Things of the Past
by Tiger of Fire
Summary: Slight AU Slight OOC Elves fairies and animal-people Ichigo is turning 21, new and strange animals have arrived at Kurakara Zoo Voices of the past are heard, and memories of things never seen surface. A darkness long since forgotten is returning will the shinigami be able to handle it on their own or will they need something else or someone new yet already known
1. Chapter 1 Tweenty-one

**This is my second fanfiction. I'm going to write this when I get writer's block on No Longer Imaginary my other fic. This will focus more on Ichigo then my other one but Grimmjow will still play a big roll. There will be slight yaoi but I don't think it will be more then teasing or one-sided stuff. It's AU without being an AU, the shinigami and hollows and stuff still exist I'm just adding awesomeness like elves and animal-people. I think this one may end up being a little more serious then my other one but it will still have humor. Please tell me what you think I have a fairly good idea where I'm going with this but it may get confusing so I apologize in advance.**

**i don't own bleach  
**

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**Chapter 1: Twenty-one and Going to the Zoo**

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The sunlight filtered through dense leaves of the trees where figures gathered in the shadows. Eyes that seemed to glow in the lack of light could been seen, two golden one pale the other shining, two blue, one that rivaled the ocean's depths, the other rivaling winter's icy morning sky, the last were the same rich green of the forest around them.

"It's beginning to weaken, we must do something soon." A calm and steady voice was the first to break the silence.

"Li' wha' exactly? We can' do anythin' till they find thems'lves!" A slightly distorted voice remarked in irritation at the other.

"Quiet Si'ine." All eyes turned to the deep commanding voice that belonged to those equally deep blue eyes.

"But Silane!" Pale gold eyes flashed in annoyance. "Ya know 'm right!"

"Yes, and I understand where you both are coming from but you must not fight here. Not now. We must wait for them to remember on their own-"

"But it may be too late by then!" A feisty young voice form up in the trees interrupted. Deep blue met shining gold with annoyance. "You know we don't have time for that brother."

"Yer li'l brother is right. Yer in charge so wha' we gonna do?" A sly voice from behind Silane said.

"If ya would let me finish. I said we must let them remember on their own, meaning no tampering with their memories." A wind blew making the leaves part more allowing light to shine on the feral grin below those azure eyes. "Never said anything about not helping in other ways."

()()()()

Ichigo read his book as he walked out of his college building. It was his copy of Return of the King, he was near the end of it.

'How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand? There is no going back. There are some things time cannot mend. Some hurts that go to deep that have taken hold.'

Ichigo placed his bookmark there and close the book placing it in his bag. _'I've read these books multiple times. Those words… while I understood them they never really meant much to me. But now after everything that's happened, gaining power, fighting, losing that power, being able to do nothing while my friends continued to fight. I wanted nothing more then to go back and have power again. I couldn't pick up where I left off before getting those powers. Even though all I had wanted was to never be able to see ghost, when I gained that… it just felt… wrong.'_

"IIIIII-CH-IIIII-GOOOO!"

"Hey Keigo." Clothesline. "How's it going?"

Unaffected by the clothesline received Keigo popped right back up. "Can you believe it man?! By tomorrow night you'll be twenty-one! It's so exciting!"

While his friends antics were a little over the top Ichigo couldn't help but smile. After all Keigo was right the day after today was his birthday, his twenty-first birthday.

'_It's hard to believe I've been a substitute shinigami for close to six years…well four technically, if you take away the time I didn't have my powers.'_ Ichigo's mind wondered as he toned out Keigo's raving of the party all his friends were setting up for him tomorrow. _'I wonder how Nel is doing she came by last year to say hi, but I haven't seen her since. I hope she's ok. I wonder if Gri- No I need to stop that! I already have enough problems without Grimmjow showing up and demanding another fight. …though he was pretty fun to fight now that I think about it. I haven't really had any fights like that since. I mean Ginjo was decent but…that was over pretty quickly. GRAH! Stop it Ichigo! Even if he was alive it wouldn't matter! He's still an arrancar… but then again so is Nel but everyone's ok with her so- NO Nel's different! She helped us… Grimm- Grimmjow nearly killed Rukia and I…'_

"HEE~LLLOOO~ earth to Ichigo! You in there?" Keigo waved his hand in front of Ichigo's face.

"Huh? Sorry lost in thought, what were you saying?"

"Space cadet… I was talking about the Zoo. They got a whole bunch of new animals in, and when I say new I mean NEW as in new never before seen!" He waves his arms around dramatically.

"New animals… so what's that got to do with me?" _'I wonder what kinds they are?'_

"Act all nonchalant if you want Ichigo but I heard from a very reliable source that you are an animal lover."

"I'm going to kill Rukia!" Ichigo growled under his breath.

"Oh come on it's not like you did a very good job of hiding it." A voice said from behind the boys. They turned to see Rukia with her arms crossed defiantly over her chest. "I mean you had tons of books on animals and you would look stuff up online all the time."

"Che, whatever." Ichigo ran a hand through his hair. He had decided about two months back to let it grow out. It was now as long as it was when he fought Aizen after training in his inner world. A lot of people thought he was in a punk or rock band because of it and now he got tons more letters form random girls at school. Which he teased Keigo about, seeing as was lucky if he got one a month. Not that Ichigo himself really cared he didn't know more then half the girls and dating was never high on his priority list.

"Aw little Ichigo's an animal lover how cute." Renji said as he slung his right arm over Ichigo's shoulders.

"Get off Renji."

"So are we going to this zoo place or not?" Renji asked ignoring the warning given to him. He was removed from Ichigo's shoulders soon after by a solid elbow planted in his gut. "Ooof!"

"I don't see why we shouldn't go." Ichigo commented as he adjusted the strap for his school bag that almost fell off when he elbowed Renji. "Anyone else planning on popping up?"

"Yes, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Captain Zaraki, Yachiru, Captain Hitsugaya, Rangiku, and Byakuya nii-sama are coming from the Soul Society. Orihime, Uryuu, Chad, and Tatsuki should be meeting up with us as well. Others may decide to show up, everyone is pretty interested in the idea of a zoo. This will be the main group of people coming to the party as well."

"That's a lot of people… Wait why are Kenpachi and Byakuya coming?" Ichigo asked as he began walking to the zoo.

"Well Captain Kuchiki has wanted to come ever since Rukia told him about it three years ago. And Captain Zaraki is coming because Yachiru wants to." Renji explained as he caught up.

"That makes sense I guess."

"Kurosaki-kun!"

"Inoue!" Ichigo waved as Orihime, Uryuu, Chad and Tatsuki came over to join them. They chatted as they headed towards the zoo. When they finally got there all the people Rukia had mentioned were present and waiting. Shinji, Kensei, and Shuhei were there as well.

"What's up everyone?"

"Not much birthday boy. How's college life treating ya?" Shinji asked as they began to make their way to the gate.

"Not bad, my teachers great and pretty lenient when I need to leave to kill hollows. One of them gives these quizzes once a week and whoever gets the most answers right gets a free movie pass I have five so far."

"Ichigo you nerd! How dare you go to the movies with out me! AHG!"

"He said he has five he never said he used them idiot!" Tatsuki said after punching him in the face.

"Hey Ichi?"

"Yeah Yachiru?" Ichigo asked the small pink haired girl that was now forcing him to give her a piggy back ride.

"What's a zoo?"

"It's a place people can come to see animals from all over the world. You have to promise me something before we go in though."

"Mm?"

"No going into the animal habitats. There are a few that you are allowed to but only if myself, Inoue, Tatsuki, Ishida, or Chad say it's ok, understand?"

"YEP! I promise Ichi!" Ichigo nodded and smiled a bit knowing she would listen.

"Hey why wasn't I in the list?" Keigo yelled from the back the group.

"Because you're an idiot that would try to tell her she should go play with lions." Tatsuki told him bluntly.

They paid to get in and entered the zoo. Ichigo knew they had remodeled and expanded but it was so much bigger then he thought it was going to be. He was itching to look at all the new animals and habitats.

"Kurosaki, I think it is only right that since it is your birthday that you lead us on the path you wish to take." Byakuya said in his usual stoic manner.

"No need to sound all philosophical. Let's start by getting a few maps so that if some of us want to go off on our own we won't get lost. They've redone the place since I was last here." He was half speaking to himself as he looked around for the maps he spoken of. Everyone could tell he was excited to be there.

They decided to start in the middle and work their way out in a spiral. In the very center was three 'Houses'. The Small Bird House, with small birds from all over the world. The Bug House, with tons of strange looking bugs. And last the Hands on Facts House, that contained facts about the animals at the zoo and fun ways to learn them.

Yachiru of course spent a good half hour in each not that anyone minded. Everyone including Byakuya and Kenpachi were enjoying themselves. In the bug house Yachiru decided that one of the monarch butterflies reminded her of Orihime and the others had to agree making Orihime blush. She took to mimicking a lot of the bugs including the praying mantis.

"Yachiru, do you remember the espada Kenpachi fought back in Las Noches?"

"Yeah I remember Kenny had fun against that tall stick guy."

"Haha, this bug here the Mantis? That's the animal his release form was of."

"WOW! He's so tiny compared to that guy!" she giggled, as she continued to mimic it.

What seemed to surprise everyone the most was when they were in the Hands on Facts House Ichigo was able to give them answers, and tell them things that weren't presented in the information given.

"Ichigo I know you're an animal lover and all but to know so much." Rukia stated.

"My major in college is zoology, in other words the study of animals." He looked around at all the stunned faces of his friends. "It's not like I was keeping it a secret, no ever asked so I didn't see the point of telling anyone."

"But…zoology? That seems a little uh…tame don't ya think Ichigo?" Ikkaku asked.

"I like animals big deal. Besides I'm training to be a field worker meaning I'll be in the thick of the animals habitats to get the information I want." Ichigo shrugged them off as he left the building and headed to the first cages. "Hey Keigo check it out! It's your favorite animal!"

"Really!?" Keigo ran over to him to look in the cage.

"No."

"AHHHHHHH! ICHIGO YOU MONSTER! Why would you do that I hate snakes!" Keigo jumped back from the snake pit and clung to Ichigo.

"Get off. It's not like they can just fly out of the pit at you. You can be such a baby it's almost embarrassing to be friends with you."

Horrified Keigo jumped away from him only to leap and try to cling to him again, "You don't mean that I thought we were best bu-oof!"

"Yes I do mean it actually." Ichigo said as he lowered his foot from Keigo's face. While Keigo pouted and held his face in pain everyone else began to look at the different snakes.

"Is it wise to have so many different types in one enclosure?" Byakuya asked curiosity leaking into his voice.

"You see the dividers?" Ichigo pointed to the glass the sectioned off parts of the pit, "In each section they put snakes with temperaments that won't set each other off, allowing them to have many together."

"I see." This was one of the first times Ichigo had seen Byakuya so curious. Rukia noticed and was smiling at her brother happy that he was enjoying himself. Ichigo was smiling as well everyone was having fun –asides from Keigo at the moment- and no one was at each other's throats…yet.

They had been walking for a few minutes when they heard Rukia giggle, everyone turned to see what was so funny. She was pointing at one of the cages. "Look Renji, your long lost family." The cages had monkeys in it.

"Sh-Shut up you half-pint!" His face was as red as his hair in a mix of anger and embarrassment as the rest of them laughed. The two began bickering and Shinji made a comment on wishing he had some popcorn.

Soon a teenage zookeeper came up to them. "Excuse me, but you two are going to have to either quiet down or you're going to be asked to leave. You are disturbing the animals." The girl said with confidence. Rukia and Renji looked at her then glared at each other and started fighting again.

"Sorry about my friends Miss, they really like each other but both are too stubborn to admit it so they fight instead." Ichigo had come foreword to talk, he gave the employ a sweet smile. "They've been friends for a seriously long time and just haven't figured out how to move past that stage of being just friends."

"ICHIGO!" Both yelled but were ignored.

"O-oh well that, that's ok then… I have a few friends like that too… so um as long as they quiet down a bit they should be fine…" She looked down and blushed. "C-can I ask why such a large group of adults is doing at the zoo?"

"Oh well it's sorta the precursor to my birthday party tonight. I'm also in college for zoology so when I heard that new animals had been brought in I just had to come." He explained with a charming smile making her blush even more.

"Yes we, uh got new animals in a few days ago… there's a uh… a bat… and a fox, and I think there are two coyotes. There's also a tiger and a panther." She said the last two with a bright smile.

"Panther…" Ichigo whispered and furrowed his brow.

"D-don't you like panthers?" The girl asked worried.

"What? Oh no, panthers are my favorite animal," He rubbed his neck and his smile turned sheepish. "It's just that I heard the animals were all newly discovered so when you said one was a panther I was a bit shocked is all. Sorry if I worried you."

"Oh well that's ok! I like panthers too! In fact I like any kind of feline! And what you heard was right they are all newly discovered." She chirped cheerily, though she had a hard time looking him in the eyes as every time she did she'd blush. "Well I have to uh go and a check on the birds in the Bird House… so bye…" She moved past the group and headed towards the Houses, she turn trying to sneak a glance only to find Ichigo waving to her making her go completely red and run off.

"Wow nice job Ichigo!" Ikkaku patted him on the back proudly.

"Yes you handled that quite beautifully. She seemed rather taken with you." Yumichika added.

"I have no clue what you're talking about. I was just trying to stop Rukia and Renji from getting kicked out."

"Oh come on! That sweet smile, acting all shy and rubbing your neck like you were embarrassed. Talking about what you like! You were totally seducing her!" Keigo hollered and was about to go on till Tatsuki kicked him in the back making him fall on his face.

'_If she comes back to yell at him I'll let her throw him out.'_ Ichigo thought as he watched him fall to the ground.

"Ichigo isn't like that you pervert! Unlike you and Miziro he isn't some player! Besides think about it if he could seduce a girl that easily and on purpose do you think he'd still be single?" Tatsuki asked as she pounded Keigo's back with her foot.

Ichigo watched in amusement as his friends 'talked'. "You guys would make a great couple." He commented as he turned to start walking.

"Kurosaki-kun?" He turned to look at Orihime's confused face. "You…you didn't act like that on, on purpose did you?"

"Act like what exactly?" He had an innocent face on as if he really didn't know what she meant, but as he turned to leave several of the others caught the glint of mischievousness in his eyes. He started to walk away and turned the corner.

"He's good." Shinji said in a hushed voice as he, Toshiro and Byakuya followed Ichigo.

"Yes I almost didn't see it when he turned." Toshiro added in an equally quiet voice. "But what kind of confuses me is what his friend said, if he can do it on purpose then why is he still single?"

"Because I haven't found the right girl yet." Ichigo said as they rounded the corner, he was sitting on a bench along the wall so they hadn't seen him at first.

"Holy Crap Ichigo! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Shinji claimed dramatically as he held his chest.

"Seeing as how you are already dead I don't see the problem."

"So how will you know the right girl when you find her?" Toshiro asked ignoring Shinji's pouting.

"When I meet a girl that gives me a run for my money and that I actually have to try hard to get her to like me, then I'll go after her. Till then, it's more of a game to see how easy it is. I can get away with it since they don't realize I'm doing it on purpose, a lot of people seem to think I do the motions subconsciously. Which at one point might have been true." He smirked thinking back to when he was in high school.

"So then why do it back there with that girl?" Byakuya asked.

"Like I said I was trying to stop Rukia and Renji from getting thrown out." He got up and started walking, the fox pen was close by and he wanted to see the new one.

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**Ichi-berry's a player! O.O I mean in the manga/anime he seems so clueless that's he's hot and has girls falling for him. So this is what I think one of the things he would do if he figured it out and was bored enough. It's also so that he has to actually try for the girl I'm sticking him with… if I'm sticking him with anyone that is… I don't know yet.**

**Sorry it's kind of short.**

**So what did you all think? Good? Bad? To obvious? Not obvious enough? Who do you think the people at the beginning were?**


	2. Chapter 2 Watchful Fox and Lazy Coyotes

**So the second chapter… not much to say about it. We see the fox and the coyotes and Yachiru being Yachiru with her infinite childish insight. I do sort of apologize for the time it took to put up this chapter but as I said before this is the story I write when I get stuck on my main one. Other then that, Enjoy.**

**I don't own bleach**

**Some language**

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_**Chapter 2: A Watchful Fox and Lazy Coyotes**_

It took only a few minutes for Ichigo to get to the Fox pen. It was level with the ground and a thick glass wall separated the humans and animals. There were near fifteen foxes in the enclosure. Recognizing many quickly Ichigo searched for the newest addition. He found it sitting on a rock that was in the middle of the habitat. He had glanced over it at first mistaking it for an Arctic Fox due to its silvery white fur. However when it stood and stretched it was easy for him to tell that it was no Arctic Fox.

Its two inch long fur was white silver yes, but its build was like that of a Red Fox not and Arctic one and its size was closer to that of a Fennec Fox. Its' face differed even further reminding the young Zoologist-in-training of a Swift Fox. It was amazing how many foxes just this one could resemble, but what was even more amazing was the fact that it had two tails, yep count 'em two! The young fox seemed in perfect control of both leading Ichigo to believe that it was not a birth defect but something unique to that particular breed.

It laid back down and looked around lazily at the people on the other side of the glass. Ichigo too sat down on the ground and pulled a note book from his schoolbag. He was glad he had foregone the idea of stopping at home to drop it off. He started writing about the characteristics of its body and the way it moved. Luckily it did get up and started walking around and playing with the other foxes in the pen. This gave Ichigo more to write on.

"Hey Ichigo what ya doing sitting on the ground?" Keigo asked.

"Writing."

"Why?"

"Extra credit."

"You're such a nerd Ichigo! We're at the zoo, enjoy yourself! Stop doing schoolwork!" Keigo whined as he tried to steal the notebook from Ichigo.

Ichigo moved the book out of his reach and kicked him away. "If I get enough extra credit in I get an extra four days of vacation idiot." He finished writing and put the notebook away and pulled out a different one.

"Now what are you doing?!"

"It's a sketchbook idiot. What do you think I'm doing?" He opened the book to a blank page and began to sketch the fox that was back up on its rock sunning itself.

"Ha like you can draw. I'm a much better artist then you Ichigo you should let me draw it for you." Rukia stated proudly.

"No thanks I like people to be able to tell what it is they are looking at, if I let you touch this people may think they are looking at some kind of monster." As the fox changed position Ichigo began a new sketch. It was now sitting up and looking at him.

"How rude! My drawings are fantastic! I doubt yours are any-Whoa!" Ichigo flipped the page to a bird he had drawn the other day and shoved it in her face. "Ichigo since when can you draw?!"

"Since my zoology teacher forced us all to take art lessons. We learned their anatomy and learned to draw them at the same time. He said we could get a better grasp of the animal we were studying by doing that. Besides I've always been a doodler, I just never bothered to show anyone what I would draw or to expand my ability till recently." He brought the sketchpad back down into his lap to finish his sketches of the fox.

He put the book away and stood up, looking back at the silver fox again he noticed it was still watching him. '_Odd. You'd think it would be watching something more interesting.'_ He moved to the other side of the pen to look at some of the other inhabitants of the enclosure, but its eyes still followed him. _'Not odd, creepy.'_ He moved once more to see if the fox would move to look behind it. It did, it turned enough to keep him in its sight.

"That's just bizarre."

"What is Kurosaki?" Uryuu asked coming up beside him.

"That fox, the new one. It keeps staring at me. I've tried moving but it follows."

"I think you're paranoid." Uryuu told him in his typical I'm-better-then-you-so-I-shall-push-my-glasses-up way.

"Watch." Ichigo huffed in annoyance as he moved once more and sure enough the foxes head followed. "See."

"Maybe it's your hair?" Uryuu suggested though sounded unsure. He was not an animal expert.

"Maybe but it feels like its looking at me not my hair…" Ichigo muttered. The fox seemed to grow bored of freaking him out and went up to the glass were Rangiku was crouched watching a few Red Fox kits play. It seemed to be waiting to get noticed by the busty woman.

"Oh My Gosh! It's so adorable! Such a cute little ball of fluff!" Yep didn't take long. The fox moved in and rubbed against the glass as if it wanted to be petted. Rangiku doing what she could and her hand on the window where it continued to rub. She kept cooing to it about how cute it was and how she wanted to take him home with her.

Yachiru came bouncing over to see what she was fusing about. "Heehee he reminds me of Fox-Face."

"You mean Captain Komamura?" Rangiku asked.

"No That's Captain Bow-wow."

"Gin." Ichigo whispered. Everyone looked at him knowing he said something but not having heard it. The fox barked at them annoyed by the loss of attention. "She means Gin." He said louder.

"Yep Fox-Face!" she giggled. "You're a good guesser Ichi!" He gave her a weak smile, how could he give anything more then that when Rangiku looked so sad. She looked back down at the fox who was wagging his tails happily waiting for her attention. His tails stopped moving as a tear rolled down her cheek, she lightly placed her fingertips on the glass and the fox pressed his nose to it and whined.

"Rukia." Toshiro whispered.

"Right, hey Rangiku you were saying you wanted to see the red pandas earlier right? They're just around the corner I can show you if you like." She put a comforting hand on her shoulder as she spoke.

"Sure lead the way Rukia!" Rangiku said seemingly having returned to her cheery stated. Those who knew her better though could still see the hurt.

"Ichigo why did they fox whine like that?" Renji asked confused.

"Animals can sense people's feelings, that's why when someone is depressed they are told to get a pet, like a dog or a cat. The animal will go to them and their companionship and warmth is usually enough to help cheer a person up. Animals are a lot better at being sympathetic then humans are."

"Oh… Come on we should catch up with them." Renji said as he started to walk.

"You guys go on ahead I want to watch this fox a bit more."

"Sure thing Dt. Dolittle. Have fun communing with the animals."

"Don't I do that every time I talk to you?" Ichigo smirked, Renji was about to yell a retort at him but Byakuya ordered him to start walking. Ichigo squatted down in front of the small fox. It yipped at him and pawed franticly at the glass. "It's your fault for reminding Yachiru of the man Rangiku loves." He scolded, it whimpered as it sat back down and its ears drooping. Ichigo sighed knowing it wasn't the fox's fault. "You seem a lot smarter then these other foxes though that's for sure." Its ears perked up again and it yipped happily.

"You noticed that too huh?" a female voice said from behind him.

"Wha?" Ichigo spun around so fast he fell to his butt, the owner of the voice kneeled down next to him. "And you are?"

"Just a volunteer here at the zoo. All the animals that they brought in a few days ago seem to have a human level of understanding. They catch on to things faster then the other animals and remember people quicker as well." The woman told him as she placed her hand on the glass.

She had a soft but serious voice. Her skin was creamy in color, but that was all Ichigo could tell at the moment. She had sunglasses on so her eyes were hidden and her hair was tucked up underneath her hat. "That includes the panther I'm assuming?"

"Yep. I like him the best but this guy here comes in a close second." The fox barked happy to know he was at the top of her list. "Well I have to go get their food. Maybe I'll see ya around the zoo somewhere."

"Yeah see ya." She stood and left to go get the food for the foxes. He looked back to the fox, it was now staring at him again. "Would you stop doing that it's creeping me out." It tilted its head and smiled. Yes that's right smiled, a big sly grin. It was then that Ichigo took notice of its piercing ice blue eyes. "Just like Gin's…" He breathed. The fox shrugged and headed for its rock.

"Weirdest. Shit. Ever." Ichigo said to himself as he got up, he had been getting this feeling like he had seen or met the fox somewhere and it wasn't helping by acting the way it did. He started to walk so he could find the rest of his group. They were still at the red pandas, and were making fun of Toshiro. Apparently Yachiru had said they reminded her of him. Rangiku looked happier now as well, probably because she was picking on her captain.

They continued on stopping long enough at each cage to get a good look at the animals and to give Ichigo time to write when he thought he saw something interesting. They did however spend a good ten extra minutes trying to pry Yumichika away from the peacocks though. He wouldn't stop going on about how 'truly beautiful' they were, and how many in the group should take lessons from them on grooming.

They came to the next cage and Yachiru seemed to get a sparkle in her big brown eyes. "Hey Ichi! What are those?!" She pointed as the balls of black in the enclosure.

"Those are porcupines." Ichigo said blandly, he didn't have much love for this creature, but he did know enough that if she asked anything-

"What are those spiky things?"

Just like that, "They are quills, they're hardened hair and have…barbs on them." He didn't think she would understand the actual term so barbs worked. "If they feel threatened they'll puff them up and if someone, or something gets to close the quills will sick into them. They are a pain in the butt to get out." He said with a grimace.

Rukia leaned over to him, "You sound as if you speaking from experience." She whispered.

"That's 'cause I am. Hiking trip eight years ago. It was my idiot father's fault too."

"They look like Ken-chan! Don't they Ken-chan they have the same hair as you!" Yachiru proclaimed happily, much to Kenpachi's annoyance. He grumbled something in reply and everyone had a short laugh at his expense.

As they started to walk again Rukia whispered to Ichigo, "I bet that by the time we leave she'll have compared everyone to an animal."

"Ya think so?" Ichigo thought about, and he was sure it was highly possible given Yachiru's nature.

"Yeah I mean we already have a monkey," She points at Renji who at that moment was arguing with Ikkaku, "And a peacock," Her finger moves to point at Yumichika, "A red panda," They look for Toshiro but he is hidden by Rangiku who is no doubt still teasing him. "And now a porcupine."

"True enough, Shinji would be… a horse I think." Rukia snickered in agreement, "And Kensei… a wolf maybe?"

"That sounds about right. I'd be a cute fluffy bunny just like Chappy!"

"Sure you would... Na I think you'd be like a vulture or something you always hang around waiting to pick at me and Renji. Ah!" He ran away from her as she tried to tackle him. "Haha missed! Arg!" He landed face first on the ground from the kick Rukia managed to plant in his back. "Damn it you midget!" He yelled as he jumped back up to his feet, but before he could launch a counter attack on her Yachiru spoke up again.

"Hey is that big cat with lots of hair a lion Ichi?" She asked excitedly.

"Wha? Oh yeah that's the pride's alpha most likely he seems to be the only male. The males are the ones with the manes, or hair as you put it. The others are the females." He explained as he walked up next to her and leaned on the fence to look down into the lion den.

"Aren't lions supposed to be like the king of the jungle or some shit? He looks rather mellow to me." Kenpachi grunted in displeasure, he thought lions were supposed to be these strong beasts, but this one was lazing in the sun.

"They are called king of the jungle yes… though it would be more accurate to say 'the plains' instead of jungle. The jungle belongs to cats like tigers or panthers depending on where you are."

"But are they as strong as people say?"

"Definitely, their roar can be heard for five miles, and you can feel it if you are within two miles of them. While for the most part the lionesses –females- will hunt, the male will protect the pride, his friends and family, from other predators who may try to kill his pride, and other lions who might try to take the pride from him. I wouldn't suggest pissing one off, one good swipe of its paw and you may not wake up the next morning. And don't even think of going down there Kenpachi!" he added quickly seeing a glint appear in the mentioned man's eye.

"You're a lot like a lion aren't you Ichi?" Yachiru said looking at the cats amazed. Everyone looked between the felines and Ichigo who was equally shocked. He had never really thought about comparing himself to an animal, let alone a lion, the King of Beasts. But as he ran over the bit of information he had given in his head, he found that the small girl was right.

"Yeah I guess I am…how 'bout that." He said more to himself then to answer her. _'Heh I wonder what He would say to that…what with that little rant he gave me about being 'The King'. And then there's my hollow he used to call me 'King' too…this is almost weirder then that fox.'_

"Hey Yachiru, what animal would I be?" Rangiku asked exited, hoping for something good.

"Ran-chan would be…a cat 'cause your always fixing your hair and cats are always fixing their fur!"

"Huh?" Rangiku asked deflated.

"Haha!" Toshiro laughed in victory at her displeasure.

"Oo, and Baldy would be a turtle because neither of them have any hair!"

"Why you little!"

Rukia nudged Ichigo, "See it's already happening." Everyone started to walk to the next habitat, "So a lion… I guess that does make sense." After a moment she giggled.

"What's so funny midget?"

"It's just…Kon is in a stuffed lion." Ichigo paused then laughed at the irony as well. At the next habitat, which held giant pandas they found Urahara and Yuroichi. Both just 'happened' to be visiting at the same time as the rest of them.

Slowly but surely Rukia's prediction was coming true, at the next pen she dubbed Yuroichi the fastest cheetah, and Urahara the lazy one over in the corner. To which Yuroichi had a good laugh, due to her being the fastest animal instead of Byakuya, and that Urahara had been called lazy. Both males grumped in their own ways.

Ichigo's guess about Kensei was right apparently as he, Byakuya, and Shuhei were all wolves. Each with their respective color, Kensei being white, Shuhei black, and Byakuya grey. Which the noble was non to thrilled about.

"Kurosaki-kun according to the map the coyotes should be just up ahead!" Orihime exclaimed excitedly.

"I wonder what the new ones will look like." Tatsuki said happily amused by her friend's excitement.

"Ooo I know! What if they're green… and have antlers and-" She continued randomly making the most bizarre guess till they actually got to the enclosure. "Where are they? I can't tell them apart."

It only took Ichigo a few seconds to be able to answer her, "There they are both on the outcropping of rock off to the right." He said pointing at them. They were pretty far away so he couldn't tell too much about them. But what he could see was their fur had several shades of brown. Milk chocolate seemed to be the base color though. One was much small then the other so he could only guess that it was the bigger one's cub.

The smaller of the two stood and ran off to play with one of the other pups while the older one slowly made its way closer to the front of the enclosure. Now that it was nearer to his position Ichigo was able to see its markings better. It had darker fur on its face, lower front legs, and lower hind legs, they were almost a mud brown. The lower jaw and chest were a light tan.

Once more Ichigo brought out his note and sketch books and set himself to work. By the time he was done both were back up on the outcropping…staring at him. "I really wish these animals would stop doing that… I swear if all the new ones do it I'll freak out… I wonder if that woman knows anything more about them…" he muttered to himself as he put his stuff away.

"Kurosaki-kun…"

"Yeah? What's up Inoue?"

"Well it's just… that new coyote… I just have this weird feeling like…" she told him quietly.

"Like you've met before?"

"How did you know I was going to say that?!"

"Because I had the same feeling back with that fox, and now here with these guys as well. Though from where I would know them I haven't a clue." He explained scratching his head in frustration, these new animals were becoming a pain in the butt. He almost didn't want to see the rest of them. He didn't know why but he felt like he had to at least see the panther if nothing else. _'Why am I so drawn to panthers? I just don't get it...'_

"It…it feels like that one espada…Stark…"

"Well…he did die in the war and it's been at least six years since then, so maybe he got reborn as a coyote." He offered trying to sound convincing to calm her nerves. Though he knew that it was highly unlikely for that to happen but she seemed to buy it.

"Yeah that makes sense! Oh I'm going to go find a place to get a drink would you like one?" She asked back to her cheerful self.

"Uh… just a bottle of water thanks." With a nod she raced off with Tatsuki to find a drink stand.

"Ichigo it's not possible for a human soul to be reborn as an animal." Rukia said in a flat tone.

"I realize that Rukia, thank you." Ichigo replied bluntly as he continued to have a staring contest with the animals.

"Then why?"

"She was freaked out, I had to say something. Besides now that she pointed it out I have to admit, it does remind me of the Prima." He told her still not turning away from the canines.

"It's just not possible no matter how you look at it Ichigo. Human souls are reborn as human souls. Not animals." Rukia pushed, though there was a slight hesitance in her reply.

"You can't tell me you don't feel it Rukia. With these two, with that fox. It had the same damn eyes as Gin, and that creepy ass grin too." He finally turned to look at her and she showed shock at his statement.

"Grin? Foxes can't grin."

"Well this one can and it did. Right after it fricking smiled at me. And no I was not imagining things. Besides think about it the animals that we were told were here. A fox, Gin. Two coyotes, Stark and that little girl he had with him. A bat, Ulquiora. The tiger would be that guy Soi Fon fought, Gigi or something."

"Gigo."

"Yeah that."

"And the panther? I swear Ichigo if you even think of saying Grimmjow I'll knock you so hard upside the head you won't wake up for a week!" she declared crossing her arms angrily.

"Who else could it be!? You can't deny that something weird is going on!" he said harshly trying to keep his voice down so not to upset the others.

"Ichigo they are not coming back! They're all dead! The only ones left are Harribel and Nel! Why are you so adamant that they're alive!?" she said back to him just as harshly. "The war is over! There are no new enemies and none of the old ones are coming back! Get over it!"

"No one saw them die! None of their bodies were found! And who the frick said I wanted something bad like new or old enemies showing up to happen?! I just don't think that their dead!" he fought hard not to raise his voice at her.

"For the past two weeks you've been talking in your sleep Ichigo! Do you want to know what you're saying?" She asked he looked shocked he knew he had been having weird dreams some involving the mentioned arrancar. But he didn't know he was sleep talking. "Don't go! Don't leave! Come back! You can't die on me! I need you to stay with me!"

"So I could be talking about anyone! When I lost my powers I dreamt about you and Renji and the others leaving me. I would call out to you and none of you would even know who I was! So what!?" he threw his hands up in annoyance and frustration.

"Names Ichigo. You also say names. Ulquiora, Stark, Grimmjow." His eyes widened as she listed the names. "There are others as well, ones I don't know. Silane, Si'ine, Tazin." She told him trying just as hard to keep her voice just above a whisper.

"So what?! What does that have to do with this?" Ichigo rubbed his temples dreading her next words. This was not the first conversation of its kind. They had argued about the espada on several occasions.

"You're obsessed with them!" _'Yep same argument.'_ "You got so used to fighting all those strong opponents that you are trying to make yourself believe they may still be out there so that you'll have someone to fight!" Rukia paused as if debating whether she wanted to say what she think or not, "You want to know the name you say most and what goes along with that name? Grimmjow wait! I need you to stay with me, you can't leave me on my own!"

Ichigo froze, he remembered that one. He said it often in the dreams he'd been having. Only thing was, the person he was talking to wasn't Grimmjow. But in his dreams he wounld call out for Grimmjow, he called out for that Silane guy. But he would turn and those same blue eyes of Grimmjow would stare back at him as the person spoke, though he was never able to hear what was said. He knew it was Grimmjow, just not the Grimmjow he knew. But he also didn't seem to be himself in that dream either, but he wasn't going to waste his time trying to tell her about it.

Shaking his head clear of the memory of the dream he turned away from Rukia, "I'm going to tell Urahara what I think about the animals…"

"Fine but promise me one thing Ichigo." She said catching his arm before he could walk away.

"What?"

"If he confirms that it's not possible, even after testing and other random shit that he may do to see if it is possible. You have to promise to stop looking for them, you have to move on. If they haven't shown up by now they are either content to stay in Hueco Mundo or they're dead. Promise you'll let it go… that you'll let him go. Some of the others are starting to think you had… feelings for him." She seemed to have trouble saying the last part.

"I'm ignoring that last bit, because there is no way in hell that I'm gay, especially not for some guy that tried to kill me three times…" He didn't need her to say his name, he knew she was talking about Grimmjow. He knew it was hard for her to have to keep having this conversation. "But I… I promise that if it can't be proven possible that I'll… stop looking."

"That's all I ask Ichigo. I'm just worried we all are." She sighed in relief at the promise. He could give her a reprieve from the argument for awhile he knew that. But he wasn't truly sure he'd be able to keep that promise.

"However, if he proves it is possible, you can bet that I'll be back here a lot." He said with a smirk. _'Yeah I'm definitely going to have trouble keeping this one.'_

"Obsessed." She grunted throwing up her arms, though there was a small hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Never claimed I wasn't." He grinned at her, that was how it always ended. She'd call him obsessed and he'd say he didn't care in some way…but… "But those dreams are too real for me to ignore Rukia. And if they are based around those people then…"

"I understand Ichigo…" She sighed again though with sadness this time. "You may want to tell Urahara about those too while you're at it. Now get before I change my mind and whack you a good one for arguing with me." He smiled at went over to Urahara pulling him away from the group. "Please don't let this be possible, he needs so badly to let go of the past."

()()()()

**And everybody goes OOOOOOoooooooooo. I wasn't sure about putting that argument in yet but I think it works here just fine and I think it flowed with the situation pretty well. Yea the chapter ended on a more serious note but hey it can't all be flowers and butterflies and unicorns. I feel bad for making Rangiku sad TT-TT but it had to be done!**

**So…what did all you lovelies out there think? Was it good? Did I keep everyone in character? Do you think the animals match the people? If not what animals do you think fit better? And what about the people who don't have an animal yet (Chad, Uryuu, Tatsuki, Keigo)?**

**Who do you think the mysterious woman was? ** **Was she canon? Or was she an OC? Will she even show up again? Why am I asking so many questions? To confuse you that's why! HAHAHAHAHA!**


	3. Chapter 3 Dreams bats and tigers

**Third chapter, yay! Ichi-berry talks to Urahara about his theory and his dreams and we see two more of the animals(Batty, and Tigger) not much else to say… so on with the story I guess.**

()()()()

_**Chapter 3: Odd Dreams, Insightful Bats, and Hidden Stripes**_

()()()()

"Oi, Urahara!"

"Yes Kurosaki-san what is it?"

"I need to talk to you about… something." Ichigo motioned for the blond to follow him away from the group. They sat down on a bench just out of ear shot. Ichigo wasn't sure how to explain and Urahara seemed to understand so he started the conversation for him.

"Is there something bothering you? You seem a bit on edge." His voice was serious, he could tell from the look on Ichigo's face joking around would not be appreciated and would earn him an elbow to the face.

"Well…it's these new animals… I mean I know we've only seen three of them but that leaves three to see yet. So I could just be-"

"The point Ichigo."

"Right sorry, well they give me this weird feeling… like I've met them before. Inoue felt it too with these two here." Ichigo said motioning in the direction of the coyotes. "Not only that but they keep staring at me. I'll try and move and they'll turn so that they can still see me."

"And you think it will be the same with the other three?"

"Yes. I told Rukia-only to get in another argument- that I think they could be the few espada that weren't ever found and Gin." He explained hoping Urahara wouldn't give him a lecture too.

"Well as I'm sure you know, and I'm sure Rukia made sure to point out. Human souls can't come back as animals." Ichigo sighed a slightly defeated sigh. "But," Ichigo looked up at him in hope, normally he hated when Urahara said 'but' however at the moment it was the most amazing thing he could've sad. "That doesn't mean there aren't other explanations, or that something else could be going on other then the rebirth cycle." Urahara watched as the hope in his young friends eyes light up, he wasn't sure what else could be going on but he couldn't for the life of him leave Ichigo looking so down, "Just to make sure we're on the same page I need to know who it is I'm looking for and where. You said Gin right?"

"Yes. Gin-the fox, Stark and that girl he was with-the coyotes, Ulquiorra-the bat, Gigo- the tiger, and Grimmjow-the panther." At the mention of Grimmjow Ichigo saw a flash of something on the older man's face. '_Sadness maybe… no not quite…he probably feels the same as everyone else when it comes to me and these guys but it's always a worse reaction when I mention Grimmjow for some reason. So annoying.' _Ichigo though as he tried to decide if he really wanted to tell Urahara about his strange dreams. Urahara made the decision for him though.

"Is there something else you want to tell me Ichigo? I'll do my best to listen and help." Ichigo knew Urahara only used his given name when he was really worried about him.

"I know Keisuke it's just…awkward I guess…"

"After everything we've been through what could possibly be awkward?"

"True enough… though a lot of that stuff was your and Yuroichi's doing." Urahara chuckled nervously as Ichigo took a deep calming breathe before explaining what was making him uncomfortable. "So for the past two weeks I've been having these dreams. And every time I have one it gets clearer and more real, it's still hard to hear though. Rukia told me that I'm apparently talking in my sleep as well, which I've never done before. But anyway in the dreams it's always me and someone I know, but as it continues it's like we change. I'm still me and they are still them, but we're not us. Does that make any sense?"

"To a point… maybe try and explain it through one of the dreams you've been having…also is it always the same or always different?"

"Well some I've only seen some once or twice but most are on repeat or something. Which one should I tell…? The one I have most and that is the clearest would have to be the first one I had. It's Grimmjow and me, at first we're fighting but it's not one of our death matches it's more like what me and Renji do, really fierce sparring. But moving on we stop sparring and just start walking together and we're walking in like a forest or something. We're talking too, about what I don't know but it's friendly whatever it is, we laugh at the jokes we're apparently telling each other and playfully push at each other. It's like we've been friends for years. Then all of a sudden I'll stop walking and he'll turn to me pat my shoulder and start walking away, and as he does so he…changes, and I can feel myself changing as well. Clothes mainly for the most part but other things as well. I'll call out to him, it's the only clear thing I can hear in the whole dream." Ichigo pause to take a breath as Orihime came over with the water he had asked her for earlier.

Urahara waits till she heads back over to the rest of the group to ask his question. "And what is it you call out?"

"I tell/ask him to come back, saying I can't do what I need to on my own that I need his help."

"I meant the exact wording Ichigo."

"Right… 'Silaine wait! I need you to stay with me, you can't leave me on my own! I need your help with this don't leave me on my own please!' the weird thing about that is Rukia said I say the first half of that out loud but I say Grimmjow not Silaine like I do in the dream."

"First off the fact that you're asking for help is rather odd." Urahara joked as Ichigo gave him a half-assed glare. "So Silaine…An interesting name… I wound what language it is? It's doesn't really sound Japanese does it?"

"Well neither does Grimmjow."

"Yes but that sounds German or European. Silaine I can't place it anywhere at the moment. Does he do anything or does he just keep walking?"

"Yeah he stops and turns to look back at me with this sad smile, then he says something the only part I ever catch is 'You have to' then it blurs out then I can hear the last bit, '…to us again.'."

"So you have to do something, in order to… get to them maybe or find them…?" Ichigo nodded having already figured that much out himself. "And you said you have other dreams like this?"

"Yes." Ichigo looked over at the rest of their group, they had moved one pen over but he couldn't tell what was in it. Rukia was glancing over every now and then and talking with Renji, he figured she was telling him they argued again from the look on his face. "I know everyone thinks I'm obsessed with these guys, and they may be right, but I don't care. I just can't help but feel that they're not gone, and that to stop looking for them would be bad. Very bad, like Aizen bad." Urahara cringed at the thought that something could be that bad again while Ichigo's eyes landed on Shinji and Kensei. "I miss Shiro…"

"Shiro?"

"I uh… I said that out loud didn't I?"

"Yes. Who is Shiro?"

"He was…" He hesitated, this was probably going to be even more touchy a subject then normal. "My Hollow." Urahara had a shocked look on his face, not that Ichigo could blame him. As far as anyone knew he hated his hollow half. "Don't tell anyone I said that especially the visords, they wouldn't understand." Ichigo looked down at the ground in front of himself.

"But why? Why would you miss someth…one like that?" Urahara asked trying to understand what had made his young friend miss the very thing that used to haunt his every step.

"Back when I was trying to learn the final getsuga, we ended up bonding, he was more like a brother by the time I learned the technique. You should have seen his face when I called him Shiro for the first time it was like he was in shock but beyond ecstatic that I would bother to give him his own name." Ichigo laughed at the memory but it was a very sad laugh as he continued speaking, "You've know idea how hard it was to lose them both like that. And then when I got my powers back and I learned only Zangetsu and his power had returned to me…It hurt…" His voice showed his pain but he didn't care, this was the first he had talked about Shiro to anyone.

Urahara gave him a moment, mainly so he could process the information that was just thrown at him, before asking another question. "Have you seen Shiro in any of your dreams?"

Ichigo nodded and leaned back on the bench looking you at the few clouds drifting overhead. "Yes he's in one or two. One is me and him though we are young maybe ten or something which really doesn't make sense since he didn't exist till I was 15 almost 16. That one's pretty short it's the two of us playing near a lake he pushes me in then holds his hand out to help me out but I pull him in as well the two of us share a laugh and the dream ends. The other one we're the age I am now and Grimmjow is there too. We're all running through a forest as fast as we can trying to out run each other. And like in the first one that I told you about it's us as you know, but at one point I see Grimmjow coming up beside me getting ready to tackle me, I'd close my eyes reading myself for the impact, it would come and then we would get tackled by Shiro –who now looked different- and the three of us would begin wrestling-Grimmjow was different now too. They would stand and offer me their hands to help me up, but then they would leave. I'd try to follow but it was like my feet were glued. I'd call out to them. Things like 'Don't leave.' 'Come back.' 'What am I supposed to do?' I'd say their names too, I'd call out the one from the other dream 'Silaine' and then another, 'Si'iane.' Shiro would say something but I couldn't make it out, and then Grimmjow would say pretty much the same thing as in the other dream."

"Interesting…Well I'm not an expert on dreams but I'll see what I can find. For now though let's forgo the dreams and your little theory on the animals. You are here for two reasons Mr. Zoology-Major. To see the new animals, and to enjoy the first half of your birthday party. We can always come back later and run some tests." Urahara told him cheerfully.

"You're right, thanks Urahara, and yeah if it's not too much trouble I'd like to come back with you for the tests." The carrot-top stood and stretched feeling much better now that he had talked with someone other then Rukia about all this. Rukia was a good listener but sometimes she just wasn't the right one to have listen. "Thanks for listening and not lecturing me on this like the others always seem too. It's a nice change."

"Of course Kuroskai-san, I'm always willing to listen if you need someone else to talk to." Ichigo nodded and head back to the group. "So what interesting things have you gotten yourself into now Ichigo? And what could be happening that's big enough to pull you into it?"

"Who says anything is happening?" Yuroichi sat down next to her long time friend. "Who's to say it hasn't already happened and we simply missed it?"

"True enough, we've missed plenty of other things in the pass… Do you think it's possible? His theory on the espada and Gin?"

"Could be, plenty of other weird shit seems to happen around that boy. And it's been awhile since anything big has happened to all of us, four years I think. So I think we're long over due for a new oddity to arise."

"You have a very good point." Urahara chuckled, she was right after all, all the strange stuff seems to happen to that boy drawing the rest of them in. "It was getting rather boring wasn't it? It's about time something exiting happened." The two friends stood and went to join the others as they began to walk to the next area.

Rukia came up along side Ichigo as the walked. "You guys were talking for quite awhile, what did he say?"

"That there's a chance of it being possible. And that I should be enjoying my birthday and not worrying."

"So our deal…"

"Not in affect till Urahara gives me a definite no. Oh look vultures!" He joked remembering what he had said about Rukia earlier. Rukia punched him in the arm but laughed as well.

"Hey the map says there's a bat cave near by." Shinji said from somewhere in front of them. "That's one of those habitats that you can go into right?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, there will be a cage around the cave so that the bats don't fly away but allows bugs to get in for the bats to eat. There is normally a guide to show you through the cave and give info on the different bats." Ichigo explained as they headed for the bat cage.

"Hello welcome to the Bat cave." A young man greeted as they neared the gate of the cage. "Will your whole group be going in?" Ichigo nodded. "Ok, well there are a few rules. First no climbing on the walls or stalagmites. Don't try to catch the bats. If a bat does fly at you please do your best to not freak out, some are rather friendly and will try to land on you, be it on your clothes or in your hair. Again do not freak out at this just gently lift them off. If the guide tells you to do something please do it as there is a reason behind it. She is waiting at the cave entrance for you have fun."

"Thanks." Ichigo lead the group into the cage. Leaning on the rocks of the entrance was the woman that he had met earlier by the fox pen. She now had her sunglasses hanging on her shirt so he was able to see her eyes, they were a bright purple. Her hair was still hidden by her hat though.

"Hey carrot-top, didn't think I'd be seeing you so soon." She called to him as she pushed off the rock and moved to the middle of the entrance.

"Ignoring the comment on my hair." He said making her chuckle, "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon either. I take it you're the guide?"

"Yep! Follow me." She turned and waved for them to come into the cave.

"You know her?" Shinji asked.

"Yes and no, I met her earlier when I stayed behind at the fox pen. She's a volunteer but other then that I know nothing."

"Ah."

"Ok from here on I'm going to ask that from here on everyone keeps their voices at whisper level, alright?" the guide said and everyone answered that they understood.

"I'm kind of surprised that Kenpachi has been, well behaved." Ichigo said to Shinji, though it was Rangiku that answered.

"I heard that Unohana threatened him into being good. How I've no idea but it seems to have worked." She explained excitedly trying very hard to keep her voice down. Ichigo shook his head, _'That woman is scarier then…well anything I think.'_ He thought as he quickened his steps a bit to get nearer the guide in case he had any questions. Orihime was there as well looking around the cave and somehow managing not to trip over anything for once.

The cave it self looked rather large, it would take a few minutes to get through the whole thing. It was rather dark besides the few small lights scattered everywhere, not that Ichigo was complaining the dark had never bothered him. After about thirty seconds of walking they heard the chirps and squeaks of the bats on the ceiling. A few flew down and past Orihime one landing on her shoulder, she jumped and squealed scaring it making it fly away. She was now clinging to Ichigo's arm while he patted her head and told her it was alright, and tried not to laugh.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to get scared like that." She apologized to the guide.

"It's ok you couldn't see them, they just kind of dropped on you." She waved it off before laughing a bit. "Hey you goof you're gonna fall off." Ichigo looked up at her to see her pulling a bat from her hat. "You wanna see the newest addition to the bat cave?" she asked after finally detaching the small creature.

"Yes please." Ichigo said without hesitation, though he felt Orihime shrink back and tighten her grip on his arm. "It's okay Inoue they're just as afraid of us as we are of them. If you're calm so are they."

"Ok."

"Ready?" The woman asked holding out both hands one covering the other to hide the bat in her palm. Orihime nodded and the guide took her top hand away carefully as not to startle the bat. "Here he is."

He was a bit bigger then her palm, about three inches give or take. Even in the dim light Ichigo was able to make out a decent amount of his markings. Its fur was a mix of white and black. Its ears were shaped like pointy eggs and were moving swiftly to catch all the sounds around it. The tips of the ears were white, and on its face starting from below the eyes it had white stripes that Ichigo guessed ran the whole way down to its most likely white stomach as its back was also white. There was some white on his forehead as well but the rest was black. On its lower body it had tufts of black fur on either side of a four inch long skinny tail that had a tuft of fur on the end of it.

The tiny animal looked back and forth between Ichigo and Orihime, in those glances Ichigo caught sight of green in its eyes. _'An odd eye color for a bat.'_ It 'jumped'-more like purposely fell- off the woman's hand and flew around them in a circle before coming to land on Orihime's upper chest, she flinch a bit making him slid down but he managed to settle himself right above her heart.

At first she was still freaked out but remembered Ichigo's words on being calm. She slowly reached up and stroked its back to find extremely soft fur. It chirped at the contact and nuzzled into her before looking over at Ichigo. It started to try and climb over to him but couldn't get a good hold on Orihime's shirt. As this was going on the guide spoke up, "See what I mean by intelligent? Those other bats just wanted attention too but this little guy was smart enough to come to me first."

"Yeah…Do they have names? The new animals I mean." Ichigo asked holding a hand out to the bat as it seemed to get frustrated that it couldn't go where it wanted to. It chirped and carefully transferred itself over to his hand.

"Well they don't have official names if that's what you mean. But I do have nicknames for them all. This guy I call Bat-man, clever right? And he lives in the Bat cave." Ichigo shook his head at how bad the joke was. "What it's funny… well ok not that funny but still. Anyway, the fox I call Kit, short for Kitsune." She started walking again leaving everyone to follow. "I would call him Kurama –the name of a character from Yu Yu Hakusho that's a fox spirit- but he's a tail short for that. The big coyote I call Dozer, since he is always dozing off, and his cub is Electra."

"Electra?" Orihime asked.

"Yeah electric but with a feminine touch. She's rather wild when she's fully awake."

"Oh."

"What about the tiger and panther?" Rukia asked coming up on the other side of Ichigo. He gave her an odd look. "What? I'm just as curious as you." She looked down at his hand that still held 'Bat-man' who he was petting absent mindedly. "Why are you still holding that?"

"He's not a 'that' Rukia, he's a bat." _'And he's way more awesome then Chappy.'_ He added in his head.

"Um… Kurosaki-kun… doesn't he kinda remind you of Ulquiora-san?" Orihime asked quietly, the bat looked up at her and squeaked at the name, though went unnoticed by everyone but a certain scientist walking behind them.

"Yeah kind of," _'A lot of 'kind of' actually.'_ "Maybe it's the same with him as with Stark." Rukia gave him a sideways glare but he just shrugged, he didn't want to scare Orihime.

"Yeah that makes sense."

"You guys wanna know the names or am I just talking to myself over here?" the guide asked good-naturedly.

"Oh, sorry names yes, please." Ichigo was glad it was dark as he blushed slightly at having been sidetracked from his own question.

"Hmm… well the tiger I call Gold, I think you'll understand when you see him. And the panther… others at the zoo do have a name for him but it's not the one I use."

"Why not?"

"Because of why they call him what they call him. They call 'im King-"

"King?!"

"Yeah, it's because of the rock he likes to sit on. It looks like one of those lounging thrones. The kind you pretty much lay on instead of sit in like a chair. And he never let's anyone else on the rock."

"So why don't you call him that?" Rukia asked confused, if he's sitting on a throne like rock and keeping people away the name sound very appropriate.

"Because he doesn't sit all the way on it. He sits more at the side and towards the bottom, not on the 'top' in the middle."

"So what do you call him then?" Ichigo asked still holding 'Bat-man'.

"Captain. He's the King's right hand ma-, uh, cat heehee. I've know idea who the 'king' could be though."

"Have you ever tried to go up on the rock?"

"You kidding me? I like having all my limbs attached thank you very much. The last person needed fifteen stitches from the bite Captain gave him. I mean I've gone up to the rock and unlike with other he'll let me sit at the bottom and pet him. But no one else can he growls and lashes out at them. Some are surprised that they haven't done anything to him for attacking the handlers but it's always pointed out that they were the ones that pushed the boundaries."

"It's definitely an interesting theory though, with his name I mean." Ichigo commented.

"Ya think so? Everyone else seems to think I'm nuts. They're all like 'he's just a cat there's no way it possible' idiots can't see what's right in front of their noses."

"Trust me you're not alone." Ichigo said as he looked at Rukia out the side of his eye and she huffed and looked away.

"What do you mean?"

"Ichigo thinks that the new animals are some people we knew who died awhile back." Rukia said nonchalant expecting the guide to laugh it off or ignore it.

"What like reincarnation or something?"

"Uh, yeah I guess so."

"Hmm… well I don't necessarily believe in coming back as something else but I do believe in the supernatural, like ghosts and stuff. So I guess anything is possible. And like I said to, Ichigo was it?" He nodded, "They are very intelligent." Ichigo gave Rukia a cocky smirk earning another punch to his arm. "So that Ulqyi-whats-it and Stark-person, are they the names of your dead friends?"

"I wouldn't say fr-" Rukia started to say.

"Yes," Ichigo interrupted, "Ulquiora was pretty big on bats and Stark's daughter loved coyotes so he in turn had gained affection for them too." He lied as the truth was rather outlandish. As an after thought he added, "Is there somewhere we can pause so I can sketch this guy?" He held up Bat-man who seemed more then content to not go anywhere.

"Sure, can I ask why out of curiosity?"

"My major in college is zoology. So it's for extra credit."

"Nice, over here. If you sit on that rock you should have a decent amount of light." The woman pointed over to the side of the cave.

"Thanks" He sat down and carefully placed the green-eyed bat on his leg and pulled out his sketch book. Bat-man simply sat and watched him draw occasionally looking over at the others in the group that were looking around the cave. After a bit Ichigo paused and looked between the book and the bat a few times. "I don't suppose that you could spread your wings out for me?" He decided to try and ask just for the heck of it.

Bat-man tilted his head a bit and made a soft clicking noise. Then he propped himself up on one wing and held the other out fully extended. He looked up and Ichigo and gave another click that almost sounded as if he was asking if that pose worked.

"Perfect." Ichigo said after getting over the mild shock the scene had given him. Those in the group that were paying attention were stunned at the bats behavior. A certain blond scientist on the other hand watched with extreme interest if you listened hard enough you could actually hear the gears turning a million miles an hour.

The guide knelt down in front of the carrot-top watching the bat amazed as Ichigo once more asked for a different position. It complied yet again and one more time after that, Ichigo then switched to his note book and she decided it was ok to speak. "I've never seen anything like this. I mean I've seen animals do outrageous things, and these new guys even more so, but this. This is on par with what I witnessed yesterday with Capt'n."

Ichigo looked up from his writing waiting for her to continue, if the panther had done something he wanted to know what it was and he was all ears.

"Somehow a little girl ended up falling into the pit, he raced from his rock-faster then I've ever seen him move- jumped up to lessen the pain of her fall. She landed on his back and he carried her over to the handler's entrance making sure to warn off the other cats from getting too close. Besides from being terrified the girl was fine. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen."

Ichigo could only stare at her in amazement as she spoke, by the end he was dumbfounded. _'Gri- no we don't know if it's him yet-but still a panther saved a little human girl. Maybe it's the protective nature towards cubs that cats have. She was probably small enough that she would register as a cub. And if it was/is Grimmjow then that means he…saved someone…'_ that thought made him smile, "Wish I could have seen it." He thought aloud.

"Well you could 'accidently' fall in and see if he tries to catch you?" the guide joked.

"Ha, ha, ha… no." Ichigo finished his report and began to put his books away as Bat-man began to climb up his shirt and into his hair. "Hey where do you think you're going mister? Get out of there." He chuckled as he attempted to get the tiny but stubborn creature from his hair.

"Let me." The guide offered chuckling as well as she carefully pried the bat from orange locks despite his squeaks of protest. "Now go chase your buddies around." He chirped again but jumped/fell from her hand and flew once around her and Ichigo and the once around Orihime the off into the darkness.

"Why did it crawl into Kurosaki-kun's hair like that?"

"It was probably warm." The guide shrugged, "The head is one of the places of the body where heat escapes from fastest, those with thicker hair keep that heat closer for longer. Shall we?"

It took another two or three minutes to get out of the cave and make sure they had everyone. As they went through the purple eyed woman –Ichigo kept forgetting to ask for her name- told them about the different kinds of bats they had. Ichigo, Ikkaku, and Shuhei took to teasing Renji about the vampire bats saying that they might come after him since his hair was the color of fresh blood.

"Bug off jerks!" he told them trying to be as nonchalant as he could but his quickened steps told them that they had gotten to him making them have to try harder to stifle their laughter.

"Ichigo." The guide pulled him off to the side as they exited the cage. "In an hour at the Jaguar cage where Capt'n is, there'll be a 'show'."

"A 'show'?"

She sighed, "Yeah one of those guys who thinks they know better then everyone else with be giving off facts to people and showing some of the tricks that the trained jaguars can do. But the idiot's going to try and get on that rock even though I warned him not to. I figured you would want to see the reaction he gets from Capt'n first hand."

"Well I do love watching people make fools of themselves." He looked over at Keigo who was being his usual noisy self now that they were outside of the cave. "So see ya there in an hour?"

"Definitely, later." She ran off just before Ichigo was going to ask her name.

"Crap." He went back over to the others, "Hey Inoue what's next?" she was the closest to him with a map.

"It looks like bobcats are next and the tigers aren't to far from there, three for four habitats depending on how you look at it." She told him as they all started walking.

"Thanks." Urahara came over and poked his arm repeatedly to get his attention. "What?"

"Over a bit." They two went to the edge of the group leaving Orihime and Tatsuke to lead everyone. "That bat was rather interesting wouldn't you say?" Ichigo nodded. "It was far too intelligent to be a normal animal that's for certain. The way it chirped when Inoue-san said Ulquiora's name..."

"And what did you think of what she said about the panther and little girl?"

"Even odder considering who you think it is. After all Grimmjow was the most destructive of the espada was he not?"

"Yeah his aspect of death was destruction." Ichigo remembered from what Rukia had told him from the report Soi Fon had given, at least that's what the second espada had told her anyway.

"Yes for him to have saved a little girl is very odd… though if you add the fact that he is a cat."

"Yeah I already had that thought go through my head, thinking maybe instincts showed her as a cub."

Urahara nodded, "Correct. Though until we actually see this 'Captain' we can only guess, so for now the bat. He seemed to favor you quite a bit didn't he? Which is weird if he is Ulquiora as you are the one who killed him."

"Yes but he favored Inoue too."

"True. I guess for now all we can do is observe since I don't have any equipment with me for this sort of thing." Ichigo nodded his understanding as they came up to the bobcat pen. All the girls were cooing over how cute they were, while the boys cheered on the few males that were wrestling off to the side. Once more Ichigo gave random facts to everyone and then Yachiru dubbed Tatsuke a bobcat.

They started walking to the next pen only to have Keigo stop them all because he wanted food. Of course much to Ichigo's displeasure everyone agreed food would be a good idea. However no one could decide on one single food place –there were no real restaurants in the middle of the zoo- so they split up and decided to meet up in the common area that the food places surrounded.

Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji just bought some pretzels and Dip'n Dots as they only wanted a snack. "I can't believe Keigo stopped us like that. We were almost to the tigers." Ichigo complained as he viciously tore a piece of his pretzel off with his teeth. "He could have waited a few more minutes."

"Chill dude. Its not like they can go anywhere. 'Sides I was getting tiered." Renji said as he propped his feet up on the chair across from him.

Ichigo glared down at the feet that were now next to him and pushed them off as he spoke. "This coming from someone who can run more then halfway across the Seratai and not be out of breath. Am I the only one that sees the contradiction here. Walking for an hour," He held out one hand then the other when he named the other half of the contradiction." running fast then a normal person could dream of for a ten minutes. Hmm? Some how I don't think that adds up to you being tired right now." He finished playfully making Rukia laugh and Renji steam.

"Well that's because of, uh, I'm in a gigia right now. So not as much stamina and stuff..." Was the lame excuse that Renji came back with.

"Uh-huh… well we believe you don't worry Renji." Rukia said still giggling.

"Yeah sure we do! I mean it's not like Urahara hasn't been tinkering with them for the past four years to make them easier for you guys to be in and keep your speed and stamina and use your kido and other such things." Ichigo listed as he went to grab the last pretzel only to have Renji snatch it away just to spite him. "Oi you already had three!"

"Whatever Dolittle."

"Tarzan." The two began bickering only stoping once Rukia hit them both in the head.

"Since we're done eating how about we get moving and head for the tigers." She suggested as she threw her trash out. The boys nodded and the three headed back to where they had stopped. They eventually came to the tigers where Ichigo immediately began searching for the new one. There were several bangles but they were nothing new to his eyes.

"Where is he…" he mumbled as he looked around for anything he might have missed in his first look through. In the far corner of the habitat there were some bushes that he had glanced over the first time, but this time he caught a glint of yellow within the green leaves. Looking more carefully he saw a pair of golden cat eyes staring up at him. An image from one of his dreams flashed through his mind along with a name. "Tazin…" he whispered, and not a second later the tiger belonging to those eyes stepped from the cover of the leaves.

The base of his fur was a very dark yet rich golden brown, the stripes a vibrant yellow-orange, but close enough to the gold in the tiger's eyes that the color almost seemed to have leaked out from them. His chest and belly were a slightly darker shade of brown the then base of his fur. His muscle build was much more like that of a leopard as in he was more streamlined then bulky though he was still very much a tiger in size, shape, and markings. He was also a bit bigger then the bangles whom he share the habitat with.

"He's beautiful…" Rukia whispered in awe of his colorings and markings.

"Not falling for a cat now are we Rukia?" Ichigo asked, "I thought you were more into monkeys." He teased nodding at Renji who wasn't paying them the least bit of attention. "Although if you think about it his tattoos do kinda look like tiger stripes." She blushed at his words and growled at him.

"Shut up you stupid strawberry!"

"I am not a strawberry therefore your order is invalid and can not be put into action." He said in a robot like voice as he got his sketch pad out making her huff and turn away. Ichigo shrugged having had his fun and set himself to drawing, once more finding himself being stared at. While it was still unsettling after talking with Urahara about his theory and having him say that it was possible they weren't normal animals made it easier.

He switched to his note book as everyone else arrived. Every now and then he'd stop writing to answer their questions. As soon as he put the book away Gold -as the woman from earlier had called him- went back to his hiding place.

"Maybe he's shy?" Orihime said sadly as she watched him disappear.

"I doubt it he probably doesn't like people too much and with so many around it most likely got annouying." Tatsuke guessed, "What's next on the list?"

"Antelope."

"Is it just me or does this zoo have a rather unorganized planner?" Tatsuke asked no one in particular.

"Yeah the layout is rather weird. Putting antelope next to tigers is pretty odd. But as long as they have what they say they have there'll be no complaints from me." Ichigo answered as he checked his watch. _'Twenty minutes to the 'show' she told me about, we should be there by then.'_

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**And so ends the third chapter. Not feeling very chatty so no long author note this time. But I do have two questions for all of you.**

**Why do you think Ichigo is having weird dreams?**

**And,**

**Why was Bat-man so cuddly with Ichi-berry?**

**Till next time!**


	4. Chapter 4 Ichigo meets Captain

**So the fourth chapter, where Grimm(sort of) makes his appearance. I again am only slightly sorry for taking so long to put this chapter up but once more this isn't my main story, so it's not my main focus. But on with the story yes?**

**Don't own bleach…which sucks… I wish I did, Grimmjow and Shiro would be in it more.**

**()()()()**

_**Chapter 4: Ichigo meets Captain**_

()()()()

Ichigo tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for everyone to finish using the restrooms. "Chill out Ichigo the cats aren't going anywhere." Ikkaku said though he was a bit annoyed at the time some of the people were taking. Some were out but most were taking their sweet time…Rangiku…

"I know but there's a demonstration happening at the jaguar habitat in five minutes and I don't want to miss it. If they're not out soon I'm going by myself and you lot will just have to catch up with me." Ichigo explained as he checked his watch once more, four and a half minutes till the time he had been told. "That's it I'm going see ya later."

He ran off to find the jaguar habitat. He almost ran by it and had to slide to a stop so he could backtrack. As he walked closer he heard singing from down in the exhibit. The soft female voice drew him in almost more then the thought of seeing the panther did.

'_Things to see, things to remember, visions that dance through my dreams. People I once knew, places I've once been, oh so familiar to me. These things of the past, revealed to me, they are but a mystery.'_

He looked down and saw the woman from earlier sitting on a rock off to the side with two jaguars laying beside her listening to her sing. Her hat was now laying on the rock next to her revealing long golden hair that glowed in the evening sun. It fell like silk around her shoulders and pooled around her slightly making it seem as if she was sitting in a puddle of shining gold.

A few thoughts came to mind for Ichigo, '_First how'd she get all her hair hidden in that hat? Second she must hang around here a lot if the jaguars are that used to her. The song seems familiar, the words kind of remind me of my dreams…damn she has a really great voice, it's as silky smooth as her hair looks.' _She looked up and spotted him as she finished singing and smiled at him her royal purple eyes shining in the sun light. He felt his heart skip a beat, '_God, she's beautiful!'_

She got up and dusted herself off before picking her hat up and walking around the cats lazing at her feet and walked to the other side of the habitat. Looking ahead of her path he saw her destination was a large rock. A large lounge like throne looking rock with a big blue-black cat curled up asleep on it.

'_That must be him. Captain…'_ Ichigo thought as she stopped at the bottom of the stone.

"Cap' wake up!" He heard her call as she tossed her hat on the felines head. He flicked his ear making it shift to the side covering the other ear fully. It actually looked like he was wearing it on purpose not like it had just been thrown on his head. The cat picked up his head –after her telling him twice more to 'get his lazy ass up'- and lazily looked up at her after yawning. She sat down next to him and pointed up in Ichigo's direction. Captain turned his hat clad head to look up where she had pointed to.

During this Ichigo had moved so that he was directly in front of the rock the two were on. Now that he was closer and that Captain was looking up at him he could see Captain's eyes. Ichigo sucked in a breath at the sight of those bright sapphire blue cat eyes that were locked intently on his form.

The woman took her hat off Captain's head drawing his attention and appeared to tell him something before heading to the gate for the zookeepers. Two minutes or so later she was walking up to and standing by Ichigo's side. He was in the processes of pulling out his sketch book but her hand on his arm stopped him. He gave her a questioning looking, "I'll take you down after the idiot is done making a fool of himself. So you can get better sketches."

"Really?! That'd be great thank you!" Ichigo smiled gratefully at her. "By the way you've yet to tell me your name. You know mine so I feel at a bit of a disadvantage."

"And maybe that's the way I like it." She gave him a sly smile to which he smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Clair. He's looking at you by the way."

"Yeah they've all been doing that. He almost looks blue from here." He commented turning back to the cat and leaning on the railing.

"He is, he's dark blue-black and has no spots that would label him a black leopard or black jaguar. He is a true panther. My favorite finding most definitely."

"Finding? … Is that the idiot there?" Ichigo pointed to the man that had just entered the habitat.

"Yep, that's him. I did ask Captain to not eat his hand or any other body part but no promises." She shrugged uncaringly. "Now we just wait, watch, and listen to a bunch of stuff we already know yes?"

"Haha yeah." He decided to occupy his time with observing different things in the enclosure including the guy talking. He was and average man in pretty much every aspect. He was about 5' 8" from what Ichigo could tell at this angle, he had mud brown hair and wasn't really built but not necessarily skinny either.

The habitat itself was quite large probably about the size of a basketball court but a little wider. There were some trees in the left back corner, several rocks randomly placed and a stray tree here or there but not enough to obstruct a person's view. He counted four jaguars and then Captain made five. Ichigo let his eyes drift back to the panther, he was watching the man warily but had yet to move from his curled up position.

As if he felt Ichigo's eyes on him Captain looked up and the two locked eyes again. "_Have… …us yet?"_ A voice that Ichigo could have sworn he knew asked though the voice faded in and out not letting him hear it fully. Suddenly he found himself in a forest that he felt he should know with a figure hidden by the shadows standing in front of him. He went to ask who it was but the voice spoke again. "_Don't speak,"_ again Ichigo felt he should be able to place it yet couldn't. "_You must remember soon…waiting…found… you have… Remember!"_ the voice spoke as if it knew it was not being fully heard.

Ichigo tried to move, to ask what he needed to remember, to do something, anything. Just as he felt his lips stat to move a flash of light blinded him momentarily. When his eyes recovered in place of the figure of a man was the silhouette of a large cat, a large cat with eyes as blue as the ocean. "Grimmjow…" was all he managed to get out before the forest faded from his view.

'Ichigo? Hey you alright? Hello?" Clair asked poking his arm.

"Wha'? Oh sorry uh… daydreaming…did I miss anything?"

"Almost, he's about to try and get on the rock, and Captain does not look happy about it in the least. Also your friends are coming this way." she paused, "Who's Grimmjow? You whispered his name just now."

"Another friend like the others…"

"You were closer to him weren't you?"

"In a way yes, we…we were a lot alike."

"Sorry, it seems like a touchy subject… Oh here he goes."

"Tell me why he seems to think he'll get a different reaction then others have?" Ichigo asked waving at everyone as they gathered around.

"He thinks they were showing fear. So his brilliant plan is to show no fear and 'assert his dominance' over Captain." Clair said nearly laughing at the idiotic idea.

"If Captain is anything like my friend, then 'asserting dominance' is not the best idea. He didn't take to well to that, tried to beat me up a few time 'cause I wouldn't back down." Ichigo smiled fondly, all the memories he had made over the past six years were dear to him no matter what they were. "And even if he's not like my friend. Tiny maybe a hundred eighty pound human is going to fight a three hundred pound cat in a battle of will. This'll be good."

The speaker moved towards Captain's rock and as soon as he was three feet away Ichigo heard Captain begin to growl while his tail twitched in an agitated manner. The man tried to stare Captain down as he took another step foreword trying to show no fear. The level of growling went up a notch or two with every step the man made and by the time he was at the base it was almost a low roar.

"There's brave and then there's stupid. This guy is the latter." Clair commented as he picked up his foot to get onto the rock. At this Captain stood raising his hackles and bearing his fangs with a deep growl. Still the idiot kept going and stepped fully onto the rock. Then something strange happened, Ichigo saw the feline look up at him and Clair and felt himself nod, and out of his peripheral saw Clair do the same. The two shared a confused look but were brought back by Captain's roar.

He had roared and pushed the man down making him fall several feet away and land hard on his back. Captain moved to the edge of the rock and stood at his full height his shadow falling over the man, and just stared down at him. No noise, no fangs showing, just stared, an intense stare.

"I'll be right back." Clair said as she climbed over the fence and jumped the twenty feet down into the habitat. She landed gracefully and turned it into a roll to transfer the momentum. "I told you not too, I told you it was a bad idea. But No~ you just had to prove me wrong. You just had to prove that you knew better then me. And were did that get you? On the ground in the dirt on the bottom of the food chain and quite the bruised ego as well I'd imagine." Clair said loud enough for everyone watching to hear. She stopped right next to the guy and looked down at him in disgust. "You are without a doubt the worst zoologist I've ever laid eyes on. Now get out of this zoo you and your 'I'm human therefore I'm better' aren't wanted or welcome here."

"You're not even a real staff member you're just a volunteer! You can't tell me what to do!" He sneered at her.

"Can't I? I'm pretty sure I can, because you are harassing my animal. Not to mention I'm the one that donated a good deal of money to the zoo allowing them to upgrade as they have. I'm also the one that brought these newly found animals here to this zoo instead of the one in Tokyo or other more famous places around the world. I'm also one of the leading zoologist in the world so I repeat. GET OUT NOW!"

The man looked like he was going to have a heart attack from all the information that had just been thrown in his face. He stayed frozen till Captain gave a loud roar scaring the living daylights out of him making him scramble for the exit. The crowd was completely silent, either too awed by the information or shocked by the turn of events.

Captain nudged Clair's hand to gain her attention, she petted his head and cooed at him for a bit, telling good job for only scaring the idiotic man and not hurting him. She then turned to the crowd. "Sorry for the abrupt ending but shows over. I do hope you enjoy the rest of your time here though." She apologized to the people then turned to Ichigo, "Hey zoology-in-training meet me over at the gate." She pointed in the direction he needed to go and started walking Captain trailing behind head held high proud of his work.

"You get to go down in there!? No Fair!" Keigo complained.

"It's for school so yes I get to go down moron. I'll catch up with you guys later alright." He waved good bye and gave Urahara a reassuring nod, and ignored Rukia's worried look completely, not wanting to keep Clair waiting at the gate while he got in an argument again.

"Keisuke?" Yuroichi whispered.

"I'll stay and watch, you go on with the others. And try not to bug poor Byakuya too much." He chided playfully.

"No promises." She laughed as she head off with the others.

Upon arriving at the gate Ichigo saw Clair leaning on the wall waiting for him. "So then you're Clair Smistin, zoologist extraordinaire?"

"Yeah that's me," She smiled as she unlocked the gate, but then gave a mock frown "You're not going to go all weird on me now are you?"

"No, I was just making sure I heard right. Though it is really cool to actually meet you. We use your material in class a lot. There's a rumor that you've only been out of collage one year and started your career while still taking classes, is that true?" he asked as he entered and she locked the gate back up.

"Yeah, my parents were low key zoologists at the time, so I went with them a lot and did cyber schooling for the most part." She told him as they passed through another gate into the habitat. Captain was sitting a few feet in.

"Cool, Um, hey what was that song you were singing earlier?"

"Oh that? It was just something that I made up on the spot. Pretty good though huh for a spur of the moment thing?"

"Yeah it was great, you have a beautiful voice. Maybe you should be a singer as a side job."

"Flatterer."

"No I'm serious you were really great."

*Mreow~* Captain rubbed against Clair's leg.

"I'm sorry were mommy and daddy ignoring their spoiled little kid?" Clair joked as she scratched his ear. He huffed not liking the joke and looked at Ichigo as he leaned against her. "Well here he is the last of the new guys. Captain this is Ichigo, Ichigo this is Captain the truest panther in existence."

Captain got up and circled Ichigo sniffing here and there and stopped in front of him and sat down. Ichigo followed and knelt so that he was at eye level with the large feline. Now that he was closer her was able to see the details of his markings, to which Ichigo was surprised he even had considering what Clair had said.

"He has markings did you notice?" In full he was a dark-blue black as Clair had said earlier, but his paws and the tip of his tail were a slightly lighter shade. And there was a tiara shaped ring of lighter fur on his head that started at the base of his ears and dipped down meeting above the middle of his eyes. The area around his eyes and his underbelly and chest were nearly black as they were darker then his main fur.

"Well I noticed the lighter ring of color on his forehead and the dark underbelly, if that's what you're talking about."

"Those, but his paws and the tip of his tail are lighter too."

"So they are. How'd I miss that? Quiz time! What can you tell me about his size and build?"

"He's closer to a puma in size isn't he?" Ichigo said Clair nodded. "Built for speed and stealth, maneuverability due to flexibility is probably one of the most useful aspects in hunting though. Where did you find him?"

"A forest."

"Not what I meant but. Pray is most likely hunted from the trees yes?" A nod. "Another reason for the stealth and maneuverability. From what I saw up there when he growled… two and a half inch fangs?" he asked looking up as Clair.

"Two and a quarter inch."

"So close." He looked back at Captain and saw him examining him with as much interest as Ichigo was using. And once more he caught the panther's electric blue eyes. _'They never seem to be the same color. Then again… neither did Grimmjow's. They seem to change almost like a mood ring.'_ There was an intelligence in the cats eyes that no animal should have possessed. And yet he had seen it four times so far today with these animals. "Magnificent…" he breathed out, as the though that he was really this close to a panther caught up with him.

At the whispered word Captain's head tilted a bit and Ichigo swore Captain had a smug look on his face. He raised a head and reached out towards the cat. Captain sniffed it, bit lightly then rubbed his head against it. "A warning bite?"

"Maybe he's saying 'I like you but be warned 'cause I don't like you that much.'."

"Highly possible." Ichigo chuckled standing.

"Let's move to where there's more light. That way you can start on your sketches." Captain was the first to get up and headed right for his rock leaving the two humans to follow. He had already made himself comfortable when they reached him. Ichigo found a nice spot in the grass to sit and reasonable distance away and got his books out. Clair went to play with the younger more curious jaguars that were creeping closer so that Ichigo could work in peace.

After getting everything he need Ichigo decided to be brave and try and get as close as Captain would let him. He got up and put his books away then started walking towards the rock Captain opened an eye and looked him up and down then went back to his dozing. Ichigo stepped up onto the base of the rock and heard a growl from the cat so he put his foot back down on the ground. "I just want to sit next to you." The growling stopped and Captain looked up at him a questioning look in the cat's eyes. "Please? I won't come up if you growl again." Captain's head tilted in a confused manner but moved curling up more to leave some extra room for Ichigo to sit. "Thank you."

Slowly but confidently Ichigo sat next to him. Once more he reached out and laid a hand gently on his side and began stroking the soft fur along his ribs. Captain laid his head on his paws with a contented sigh as Ichigo began scratching behind his ears. "How about that he let you on the rock." Clair said coming over.

"He let's you up too."

"Yeah but so far it's just the two of us. I wonder what makes us special." She said as she knelt down and rubbed Captain's chin. "Maybe he's just picky. I guess that means he likes you though."

"I asked."

"Asked what?"

"If I could sit next to him."

"Hmm, I fell on it and he just let me stay there" She smiled sheepishly as he chuckled.

There was a pause as Ichigo looked around, it was a lot different looking from floor level instead of looking down on everything. _'Then again it's the same when I'm standing in mid air above everything, so why should it be different her.'_ He joked in his head. Looking up he saw Urahara watching them he nodded and waved receiving a wave in return.

"Say Ichigo, I know it seemed like a bit of a touchy subject but your friend. The one who's name you said earlier, what was he like?"

"Well, I shouldn't exactly label me and Grimmjow as friends. Rivals might be a better term." Captain opened an eye and looked up at him.

"But you said you were closer to him then the others?"

"Because in a way I was. I had met him more times. We let our fists do the talking more times then not. But damn he was fun to fight. Then the stupid bastard got himself killed and left me with no one that could give me a run for my money. He was the one that always pushed me, I got stronger because of him, and for that I'm thankful."

"You said you were a lot alike." Captain shifted to a more half sitting half laying position his eyes trained on Ichigo. Ichigo returned the look as he went on to describe Grimmjow.

"Headstrong, stubborn, neither of us ever went down without a fight, nor would we. He died fighting like the warrior he was and for that I think he could be proud. We both have crazy hair colors though I think his beats mine, his was blue believe it or not."

"That would be epic, natural blue hair oh how I wish for thee. I did die mine blue once, well my bangs anyway."

"Nice. His mouth was rather foul though he swore A Lot. I swear every now and then but he swore a lot more then need be. An excellent hand to hand fighter, knew how to wield a blade though if he had too. Ah~ I wish I could fight him again." He said leaning back and looking at the sky, missing Captain's head tilt.

"You know Ichigo."

"Hmm?"

"You should… try and get to the top of the rock."

"Right let's see how did you put it something like, 'I like having all my limbs attached to my body.' So no thanks."

"Aw come on, you should still try."

"You first, ooof! What was that for?" Ichigo asked, Captain had grabbed hold of his sleeve with his teeth and pulled him down and put a paw over him.*Mroew* _'That smug look, I'd know that smug look anywhere. That's the one Grimmjow always gave me.'_ "Oh so you wanna rough house is that it?" He smiled as he pushed Captain's paw off and went to get up but was softly tackled and pinned to the ground. "Cheater!"

Ichigo managed to roll himself and Captain over. The two wrestled as Clair sat on the edge of the rock and cheered them on. "H-Hey s-stop that's hahaha, that's cheating! Captain come haha on stop!" Captain had pinned Ichigo and was nuzzling his side and stomach were his shirt had ridden up tickling him with his nose and whiskers.

"Wow Ichigo you're ripped, tummy muscles!" Clair said through her laughter.

"Thankss…stop it will ya you over grown house cat!" Ichigo said trying to push him off. Captain paused for a moment then dropped his full wait onto Ichigo making him grunt. "Alright I take it back you're not a house cat. Now get off you giant ball of fluff." Ichigo managed to get out a smile on his face, Captain yawned. "Cap'n come on, I can't breath, genius!"

*Mer~ow* Captain rolled off and gave him that smug look from earlier.

"Yeah, yeah. You win I lose haha rub it in will ya. Though it is a bit unfair you being a three hundred pound cat built to wrestle down large prey. Whereas I'm not quite two hundred pounds and even though most is muscle it doesn't really help against you at the moment." Ichigo stood up and brushed himself off. "Though…" He suddenly took off for the rock, Captain on his heels as soon as he realized what was happening.

Upon reaching the top Ichigo promptly sat down. "Nice view, I like it." He adjusted a bit pulling one leg up to a bent position and the other laid out straight, and propped himself up on one elbow. Captain stopped just short of him and just stared at him for a while. Ichigo turned and again found him locking eyes with the cat. And once more found himself in that forest he had never been yet felt oh so familiar.

"_My King…"_ A distorted voice said from behind him. _'Shiro.'_ He thought.

"_You're…closer…"_ The voice from before came again along with the cat in the shadows. He knew if he could just pinpoint who the voice belonged to he'd have an easier time. The cat took a step forward but Ichigo still couldn't see it properly. He reached a hand out and his hand touched fur and a flash of light brought him back to the zoo his hand cupping Captain's head. Captain was now laying down his upper body draped over his leg and head resting on his hip.

"You're not going to kick me off?" Captain rubbed his head on Ichigo's hip the rolled so his chest was facing up and reached toward Ichigo's face with one of his paws. "I'll take that as a no." Ichigo laughed at the display, he guessed it was because he had beat him to the top therefore had won. He rubbed Captain's chest before the cat rolled back to how he was before. Looking down at the now dozing feline Ichigo couldn't help but smile, and couldn't help the strange yet welcome feeling of belonging right there, right then with who he was there with. "It's almost like déjà vu."

"I heard once that having déjà vu means you are right where you are meant to be, at the exact time you are meant to be there, with the persons you are meant to be there with." Clair said climbing up and laying down next to Captain petting his head as he slept. She looked up at Ichigo and smiled, "But yeah it is like déjà vu isn't it."

**()()()()**

**So there is the end of this chapter, I think that's a nice safe spot to leave off till next time. All the animals have now been seen yay! The déjà vu saying thing that I had Clair says, I think it's from a tv show called Fringe but I can't remember. No idea what's going to happen in the next chapter maybe his party I don't know yet haven't started writing it. Till next time reviews will make me more inclined to write and post the next chapter sooner. **


	5. Chapter 5 The Party Starts

**So I guess it's been like a month or something since the last chapter got put up. In this chapter the birthday party starts, there's a lot of filler stuff in here but there will be something significant no worries. (Clair: shh I didn't tell you this but there's a yaoi tease in this chap but you didn't hear it from me.) **

_**()()()()**_

_**Last chapter:**_

"_**My King…"**__ A distorted voice said from behind him. __**'Shiro.'**__ He thought._

"_**You're…closer…"**__ The voice from before came again along with the cat in the shadows. He knew if he could just pinpoint who the voice belonged to he'd have an easier time. The cat took a step forward but Ichigo still couldn't see it properly. He reached a hand out and his hand touched fur and a flash of light brought him back to the zoo his hand cupping Captain's head. Captain was now laying down his upper body draped over his leg and head resting on his hip._

"_You're not going to kick me off?" Captain rubbed his head on Ichigo's hip the rolled so his chest was facing up and reached toward Ichigo's face with one of his paws. "I'll take that as a no." Ichigo laughed at the display, he guessed it was because he had beat him to the top therefore had won. He rubbed Captain's chest before the cat rolled back to how he was before. Looking down at the now dozing feline Ichigo couldn't help but smile, and couldn't help the strange yet welcome feeling of belonging right there, right then with who he was there with. "It's almost like déjà vu."_

"_I heard once that having déjà vu means you are right where you are meant to be, at the exact time you are meant to be there, with the persons you are meant to be there with." Clair said climbing up and laying down next to Captain petting his head as he slept. She looked up at Ichigo and smiled, "But yeah it is like déjà vu isn't it."_

_**()()()()**_

_**Chapter 5: The party starts. Things become clearer, or more confusing?**_

_**()()()()**_

The three sat for awhile the two humans pampering the large feline with scratches under his chin and behind his ears. "Why is it like déjà vu for you?" Ichigo asked after a few minutes.

"Well when I was little I used to dream about sitting with a midnight panther that had blue eyes. Till recently I had forgotten about them, when I saw him out in the forest actually. What about you?"

"I don't know it just… feels right… though…"

"Though?"

"I've been having weird dreams lately, they include the guys that died, but we aren't…us in the dreams. Do you get it?"

"Yeah I get it. Past lives maybe? We had talked about something similar back at the bat cave. Maybe that's it. When I was little and was having the dreams about the panther, I'd wake up and think maybe that was me, back before I was me. Maybe I was a girl in an enchanted forest with a panther friend."

"An enchanted forest?" Ichigo asked smiling.

"Yeah…with you know fairies and dragons and stuff…but when I told some older people about that idea they said every kid dreams of being something more and that my imagination was just overactive. I didn't believe them at first but the dreams went away and I forgot about them soon after so… maybe that's all it was… the child in me still hopes those adults were wrong. But… the small adult in me says it's not possible for them to be wrong…"

"I've never been good at listening to what adults tell me is possible or not." Ichigo grinned. _'Technically Rukia is older then me along with everyone else from soul society so.'_

"Me too, when I'm out in the field I like to pretend that I'm on some kind of adventure to discover my long forgotten past or something, adds a level of fun when the days are slow." She smiled.

"I bet. So that song you were singing, are you sure you made it up? I mean I don't like doubt your honesty or anything it's just I swear I've heard it before."

"Well maybe on the radio, sometimes I'll hear a song then sing it later and not realize it." She shrugged.

"I guess that's possible." Ichigo agreed he liked to listen to the radio when he did his work so it was very possible.

"Say random question, if you could be any kind of mythical being what would you be?" Clair asked suddenly excited.

"Hmm… you first while I think about it." Ichigo laughed at her enthusiasm.

"An Elvin princess." She answered instantly.

"So specific. An Elvin princess, most girls would settle with being a normal princess."

"Yeah but I'd be a warrior elf and a princess!" she said enthusiastically.

Ichigo laughed, "Being an elf would be cool, I think I'd be on the royal guard. Or I'd be a dragon."

"Why not be both, a hybrid of elf and dragon kind? You could be my personal guard."

"Your highness." He gave a mock bow the best he could from his position making her laugh and Captain huffed at the loss of attention. "Oh so sorry, your majesty did we stop petting you for all of a second?" again Captain huffed but less forcefully since he was getting attention again. "Attention hog."

"It's amazing how much of a liking he's taken to you after so short a time." Clair commented as she rubbed the cat's soft underbelly.

"Yeah," Ichigo looked up at the sky and noticed it was late evening. "I should get going, the others may start to think I got eaten." Clair laughed and hopped off the rock. "Come on Captain I need to get up, you need to get off." Captain meowed lowly and moved so he was even further on top of the carrot-top. "That's the opposite of off fur-ball."

"Do you think you'd be able to come back later after the zoo's closed? I could show you the other animals." Clair suggested as Ichigo tried and failed to push the large cat off himself.

"As much as I'd love to come back tonight my friends have planned this weekend long birthday party for me. Can I come another time?"

"Does Tuesday work?"

"Tuesday's good with me. Hear that fuzzy the sooner you get off the sooner I can come back." Captain seemed to think about it then slowly rolled off. Ichigo jumped down off the rock and grabbed his schoolbag. "See ya later fluffy." He said rubbing Captain's ear one last time, then dodged a lazy swipe at him for the nicknames. "Missed." Clair and he exited the habitat and she locked the gate. "Thanks for letting me come down."

"No problem, it was interesting. Have fun at your party and see ya on Tuesday."

"I will see ya." He waved good bye and went to find Urahara. "So what did you think?"

"That you and that girl go well together." Urahara teased.

Ichigo glared at him half heartedly, "I meant the cat."

"Yes of course. Very strange, I couldn't hear anything you two were saying but it seemed that he was following the conversation much like a person would. And then when you got on top of the rock… I'm honestly not sure what to make of this all Ichigo."

"I had these two weird vision things."

"Vision things?" Ichigo explained the forest and the voices, and the silhouettes he saw in the shadows. "Interesting, and you said this is the first you've had anything happen while awake?" Ichigo nodded, "And both times it happened after you made eye contact with the cat?" again a nod. "hmm…"

"She invited me to come back Tuesday night so that she can show me the others. I figure that you can tag along then in spirit form so she can't see you."

"Yes that will work, but for now lets go find the others yes?" he walked off back to his usual self, Ichigo shook his head and looked back at Captain one last time before following.

It took about fifteen minutes to find the others, and when they did everyone was asking what happened and about the different animals they had seen since they separated. Ichigo did his best to answer as many as he could without giving long answers. Keigo started asking about Clair but Tatsuki pulled him back. Rukia waited off to the side for everyone to calm down before pulling the orange head to the back of the group as they continued on.

"So?"

"So what?" Ichigo asked innocently.

"Ichigo." She said sternly.

Ichigo relented, "He was way more intelligent then a cat should be. He followed our conversation in much the way a human would. And reacted to the things we said. I also got to sit up at the top of the rock, and he really didn't seem to care even laid down and used my legs as a pillow."

Rukia was shocked after hearing what Clair had said back in the bat cave. "But how?" Ichigo explained how he ended up wrestling the cat and made a break for the rock. "Only you would wrestle a giant cat for fun…well maybe Kenpachi would." They both laughed at the truth to her statement. "What does Urahara think?"

"He's not sure yet. So what are we doing next then?"

"Going to an all you can eat buffet for dinner. Karin told me about it, she Yuzu and your dad will meet us there too."

"Does my dad really have to come too?"

"Do you really think he'll make a bigger scene then all these people?"

"Good point." The rest of the trip through the zoo went well aside from a few outbursts from Keigo that were near immediately stopped by Tatsuki. The all left talking about their favorite parts. "I want to go home and put my stuff away so I'm not having to worry about it, I also want to change, can you tell me the place we're going to so I can meet you guys there?" he asked Rukia.

"Nope 'cause it's a surprise. I'll come with you. You guys head to the restaurant we'll catch up with you later.' She told everyone as they headed in the opposite direction.

"Hopefully Goat-face already left," Ichigo mumbled as he opened the door to his house. "I'm home!" silence. "Yes he's gone! I'll be down in a few." He ran up to his room and put the reports and drawings he did in a folder so they'd be ready for school on Monday. He shed his regular blue jeans and t-shirt and put on a pair of skinny black jeans with a silver dragon on the left leg and a navy blue fitted long sleeve shirt with a matching dragon on it. He also pulled out a white vest made from a light material that had a tribal wolf head on the back. He stuck his wallet in his back pocket it was attached to a silver chain the hooked on his belt loop. He didn't bother with his hair and just left it as is.

He ran back down stairs where Rukia gave him a once over, "Where do you think we're going a club? Though you could use a girlfriend."

"Haha so sorry if I want to look nice. And no I don't need a girlfriend."

"A boyfriend then?" she teased.

"Yuck that's just ew Rukia." He gave a shiver to emphasize his point making her laugh. "Come on lets go I'm hungry."

Rukia lead the way to a rather big restaurant, "I love this place." He said excitedly as they approached the group waiting for them.

"Which is why Karin told me to reserve tables here." She told him, "Sorry for taking so long but Ichigo was taking longer then a girl to get ready." She exaggerated.

"I did not! I was putting my school work away it only took me like two minutes to get changed." He defended himself.

"Ichigo! My beautiful so-Ack!"

"Shut up ya creep, can we go eat now I'm starving?" Karin said her foot planted firmly on Isshin's back.

They headed in and Rukia told the hostest who they were and they got lead back to a room meant for large groups so they'd have some privacy. After ordering drinks everyone started arguing over who would sit where.

Ichigo smiled and sat in the middle of one of the tables leaving a seat on either side of him open they were soon filled by his sisters, Karin on his right and Yuzu on his left. There were four seats on each side of the table and Toshiro took the last one on Ichigo's side next to Karin. On the other side was Rangiku across from Yuzu, Rukia across from Ichigo then Renji and Byakuya.

"My beautiful children you have forgotten to save a seat for your wonderful father!?" Isshin complained when he noticed that the table was filled.

"No you were to busy acting like a child so you got left out, first come first serve." Ichigo said uncaringly.

"So cold! Ichigo daddy's hurt by your words! Family is supp-" Ichigo tuned him out.

The table across the room from Ichigo's had Orihime, Tatsuki, Uryuu, Chad, and Keigo. The table behind them held the four squad eleven members. And the one behind Ichigo had the rest of the group, Isshin sitting directly behind Ichigo, Urahara on his left and Yuroichi next to the blond. And on the other side of the table were the two visord captains and Shuhei.

Once everyone got their drinks they went for food. The buffet had different food from all around the world, which was one of the reasons this place was Ichigo's favorite he could have all his favorite foods. The only bad part was is it was a hotspot for collage kids…namely ones from his collage. He ended up getting stopped by a bunch of kids from his classes. The guys weren't bad just 'hi's' 'how are you's' and 'bye'. It was the girls that got annoying, all of them were acting so flustered and shy…and fake…it pissed him off but he kept his cool. He finally managed to make it back to his seat after ten or more minutes.

"Trouble?" Karin asked having seen him get stopped by all the people. Ichigo just sighed and slumped in his chair making her laugh.

"Sometimes I wish I could go back to not knowing they were trying to hit on me." He said shaking his head.

Karin and Yuzu told him all about their day at his request, but broke off into conversations with Toshiro and Rangiku after they were done. Karin and Toshiro were talking about her latest soccer achievements and Rangiku and Yuzu were talking animatedly about who knows what.

"Enjoying yourself birthday boy?" Rukia asked after a bit.

"Yes thank you. But you guys really didn't have to do all this."

"Nonsense after everything you've done for us the least we can do is give you a great party. And it gives everyone a bit of a reprieve."

"Oh I see you're just using my birthday as an excuse to vacation." He teased.

"We are not!" Rukia huffed appalled by the notion.

"Chill out I was just joking. How are things in Soul Society though I haven't been in awhile?"

Everyone talked and ate their fill sometimes switching seats so they could talk to others. Ichigo ended up sitting in Shinji's spot across from his dad, Urahara, and Yuroichi. Kensei and Shuhei were talking with Renji and Shinji was trying to flirt with Orihime. Isshin was the first to talk.

"Urahara told me what you two discussed at the zoo." He started seriously, Ichigo looked him in the eye showing he was listening, "My only question is why didn't you tell me and why only bring it up after two weeks?"

Ichigo looked down at the table, "I honestly wasn't planning on telling anyone ever. I didn't want to give them one more reason to lecture me, you know how much that irritates me."

"Yes I know but you should know that I wouldn't lecture you son. Not over something you truly felt was right." Ichigo nodded his father was the only one so far not to react at all negatively to his belief that those few arrancar were alive. Urahara and Yuroichi never said anything against it and tried to support him silently but their body reactions and faces said enough no matter how hard they tried to hide it. "Now can you tell us all of what happened with the panther and the girl? Seeing as Urahara couldn't hear anything."

Ichigo relayed what happened in as much detail as he could, everything from the time Clair opened the gate to the time he followed Urahara away. "Before following I looked back once more, and Captain was looking up at me watching me go."

"You said you mentioned wanting to fight Grimmjow again," Isshin asked and Ichigo from the corner of his eye saw Urahara and Yuroichi shift making him sigh internally, he nodded to his father. "And then he started wrestling with you?"

"Not right away but he started to shift after I said it yes. At the time I didn't think it was weird but looking back on it…" before they could talk more Shinji came over and sat next to Ichigo.

"Why are we so solemn over here it's a party be happy people! Especially you birthday boy!" Shinji said ruffling Ichigo's hair.

"Stop calling me that." He swatted the blonds hand away.

"No."

They bickered back and forth till Rukia declared it was time for the next 'phase' of the party. This included him his human friends, Rukia and Renji to go somewhere. While his family and the other captains, lieutenants and Ikkaku and Yumichika went off to 'do something somewhere' as Rukia said when he asked why they were splitting up.

"Alright we've split up now what?"

"Karaoke!" Keigo cheered as the started walking.

"Joy." The orange head said as he looked up to the sky, the sun was just getting ready to set.

"Aw come on Kurosaki-kun, Yuzu-chan said you have a very good voice." Orihime said happily.

"Alright. Karaoke it is then." He smiled as everyone cheered.

"Wait the carrot can sing?" Renji said only to be kicked in the head for the nickname.

They all took turns singing solo or with each other. Keigo was doing a really stupid song to make everyone laugh when Rukia's phone went off. They had been at it for a little over an hour when she got the text and said, "Alright time for the next phase!"

"Why do you keep calling them 'phases' you make it sound like we're on some kind of mission." Ichigo said.

"That's cause we are, it's the Kurosaki Ichigo Best Birthday Party Ever Mission!" Keigo said jumping around as the exited the building. Tatsuki hit him on the head asking if he wanted the whole world to hear him.

Once more Rukia lead the way to their next destination while Keigo continued to be loud. The sun had set while they were inside so there was almost no one around to hear Keigo yelling but they were entering the housing district so Tatsuki told him to shut up again.

"My house is the next 'phase'?" he asked as they stood in front of his door.

"Yep now go in." Rukia said pushing him up to the door. They forced him to go in first, he opened the door and everything was quiet and dark.

"Hello?"

"Happy birthday!" everyone yelled as the lights were turned on. Ichigo looked around a smile on his face, the entire first floor of his house had been turned into a party zone. There were streamers and balloons everywhere. And on the kitchen table sat a larger birthday cake.

"Thanks everyone. Is that chocolate?" he asked going over to the cake.

"Of course!" Isshin laughed loudly. "Time for candles and singing!"

"Seriously?! I just want to eat it…" He complained but went with it anyway just to humor his dad. Everyone –minus Byakuya and Kenpachi for two different reasons- sang happy birthday to him and he blew the candles out. _'I wish theses dreams would become clearer so I can understand them.'_

Everyone cheered and tried to get him to spill what he wished for while Yuzu cut the cake. While she did that Karin and Yuroichi got drinks for everyone. Once each person had some cake they all spread out in the living room to eat and talk. Ichigo found a spot along the wall where he could see everyone else.

Yachiru and Kenpachi had claimed the couch, on the floor in front of them was Karin and Toshiro. Yuzu, Rangiku, and Orihime were just to the side of them talking about food from what the orange head could tell. To his left Renji and Rukia were talking and Byakuya stood not to far off from them. To the other side was Kensei and Shuhei talking about the new recruits in their squad. Behind the couch was his dad, Urahara, Yuroichi, and Shinji talking about something. Chad had come over and sat next to him after having enough of Keigo talk his ear off, Tatsuki and Uryuu weren't so lucky as to get away. And Ikkaku and Yumichika were against the far wall talking.

'_I guess the only one missing is Nel. She'll probably show up at some point or another.'_

"Is something wrong Ichigo?" Chad asked.

"Nah, I was just thinking about Nel. It's been roughly a year since we've seen her, I hope she's doing ok." Chad nodded but said nothing more.

After everyone had their fill of cake there was almost none left. Rukia told them the opening of presents was next then it would be on to the games. Such games included twister –because Rukia wanted to watch grown men play a kids game- random board games, and a few short drinking games.

Each person had bought one gift for him, and they had brought the presents from those who couldn't come tot the party as well, such as Ukitake, Hanatoro, and Kukaku. There was all kinds of gifts, little kick-knacks, useful everyday stuff, and some prank gifts. Renji's prank gift nearly lost him something very important to hisself -he had gotten Ichigo a t-shirt with strawberries on it.

Ichigo refused to play twister but was more then happy to film the others play. Others being Renji, Isshin, Shinji, Shuhei, and Ikkaku, while Karin was in charge of the spinner. Shuhei won the first round and Isshin and Renji tied the second both slipping at the same time. The girls went next, Orihime, Tatsuki, Rangiku, Yuroichi, and Karin played while Yuzu and Yachiru took turns with the spinner.

Yuroichi won both rounds, along with most of the drinking games, either Shinji or Kensei winning the others though Keigo gave it a valiant effort. The board games were randomly placed around the rooms and everyone picked which they wanted to play. By the time 2 am had rolled around pretty much everyone was passed out somewhere on the first floor either from exhaustion or drinking too much.

Ichigo looked around shaking his head a soft smile on his lips. He had only had two beers so he was only buzzed a little. He saw Yuzu passed out on the couch a small smile on her face, next to her on the other side was Shuhei and on the floor in front of him was Kensei leaning against the couch out cold from drinking. Karin and Toshiro were in between him and the tv on the floor finishing up one last game of go fish. To the left of the tv were Rukia and Renji sitting up against the wall and leaning on each other sleeping soundly. On the connecting wall Yumichika was reading quietly with Ikkaku -sprawled on the floor next to him as drunk as Kensei- using his leg as a pillow. On the other side of the room on the floor was Shinji and Keigo laying haphazardly both drunk off their asses.

Kenpachi had taken Yachiru back to Soul Society around midnight after she played a few board games. Orihime had invited Rangiku and Tatsuki to stay over at her place for the night so they wouldn't take up so much room at Ichigo's house about an hour ago. Chad and Uryuu had left around the same time saying they'd be back for the rest of the party. He walked to the kitchen where Byakuya was reading at the table quietly and his dad, Urahara, and Yuroichi were talking. Everyone having been accounted for he went back to the living room.

"Karin, I'm going to take Yuzu upstairs, you should finish and head up too, you said you had practice later tomorrow right?" She nodded before yawning, she and Toshiro put the cards away.

"Matsomoto went with Inoue right?" Toshiro asked falling asleep as well. Ichigo nodded and went to pick Yuzu up as gently as he could so that she didn't wake up. After tucking her in and making sure Karin got up to bed as well he went to find some blankets and pillows for those downstairs. He placed them gently over everyone and adjusted Kensei so he was laying down and put a pillow under him. He left Rukia and Renji leaning on each other so he could see their reaction in the morning. _'I'm so evil sometimes.'_ He thought as he took a picture of the two with his phone.

"Here." He handed Yumichika on of the blankets as he carefully shifted Ikkaku off his leg and putting it on a pillow instead and threw the last blanket over him.

"Thank you. You really didn't have to do all that." Yumichika told him having watched how much care he had taken to make sure everyone was comfortable and warm.

Ichigo shook his head, "Nah, it's the least I can do, I had a great time today." He said smiling, he really had enjoyed the first half of the party giving everyone blankets and pillows was no big deal.

"You should get one for Captain Kuchiki as well."

"Haha if I tried to give him a blanket he'd probably give me some kinda crap about being a noble and a Kuchiki and not needing one or something."

"True, well good night then Ichigo-san. I hope you sleep well." He put his book off to the side and made himself as comfortable as he could on the floor next to his drunken friend.

"Night, you sleep well too yeah?" they nodded to each other and Ichigo waved good night to his dad before heading up to his room. "I wonder if I'll have another dream tonight…" he thought aloud as he changed out of his clothes and pulled on a pair of track pants leaving his chest bear. "Maybe I'll be able to get more out of them now." he hoped so, after everything that happened at the zoo especially with Captain he thought there was a good chance of it.

He didn't bother with the covers being too tired and just laid down on his stomach on top of them using his arm as a pillow instead of his real one. "Grimmjow…Silane…" he mumbled as he began to drift off. "Are you two the same perso…"

()()()()

"Oi! Wake up sleepy head!" Ichigo felt someone poking him in the side.

"Mmm…go 'way, 'm sleepy…" he mumbled.

"No can do," a familiar male voice said as its owner poked him again, "By the way why are you sleeping in the middle of a meadow?"

'_I'm not I'm in my bed.'_ Ichigo tried to say but instead said. "Because I feel like it, and because only you and Si'ine can find me out here." _'Wait Si'ine? Am I dreaming? It doesn't feel like a dream.' _Ichigo or who he was in the dream at least still hadn't moved and still had his face buried in his arm.

"True we can find you anywhere, you used to hate playing hide and seek when we were little." Dream Ichigo scoffed as the person belonging to that oh so familiar voice laid down next to him. "But come on the only time you ever go anywhere no one can find you is because you're thinking about something deeply. So what is it this time? And don't lie you know I can tell when you're lying one of the perks of knowing you your whole life." The voice chuckled.

Dream Ichigo scoffed then sighed relenting after a few seconds. "Yes… there's something…"

"Did you hear then?" the voice asked concern laced through it.

"Depends on what you're talking about. Do you mean the marriage or the Telling?"

"Both." Dream Ichigo sighed again. "I don't see why you'd be bummed about the marriage part, you know and like the girl."

"Yeah as a friend!...But that's not the problem Silane…" _'Wait it's Silane!? That's why it's familiar! It's the voice from those visions too! And the other dreams!' _ "It's the Telling…" Dream Ichigo pulled himself up so that he was on his knees but kept his gaze on the grass in front of himself instead of the man to his left. "It…it said that you'd…"

"Hey, look at me." Dream Ichigo didn't move, "I said look at me," Silane sat up and moved closer as he gently took Dream Ichigo's chin and turned his head. Ichigo gasped in his mind, it really was, it was the man that Grimmjow always became in his other dreams, though this was the first time he'd seen him so clearly. He looked close to what Grimmjow did in his release form, long silky looking blue hair that moved on the gentle breeze as if it weighed nothing, there were a few small braids here and there. Instead of his cat ears being teal they were midnight blue and the marking came down to his eyes just like the teal ones did for Grimmjow.

'_His eyes though, they're the same, the same ever changing blue. But there's no hate or rage in them, only concern and warmth…it's oddly comforting.'_ He felt his body relax as it had tensed when Silane had asked about what was wrong.

"Are you even listening to me? Or are you too busy admiring how amazing I look?" Silane asked with a cocky grin. _'If this is a past life like Clair suggested then he definitely hasn't lost any of his narcissism.'_ Ichigo thought with a chuckle.

"Admire a fuzzball like you? I'd soon as kiss a toad." Dream Ichigo scoffed playfully swatting the hand holding his chin away.

Silane put a hand over his heart and acted like he'd been wounded. "I'm hurt my Prince!" his grin came back but more mischievous. "And here I thought you loved my looks." He purred.

Feeling something on his leg Dream Ichigo looked down to see a fluffy midnight blue tail with a slightly lighter tip tracing his thigh. "Silane…"

"Yes?" the word was purred right into his ear making him jump at the closeness that hadn't been there when he looked down.

"Stop."

"Why? It's fun teasing you like this." He licked Dream Ichigo's cheek making him push the cat man away.

"I'm serious Silane! Aren't you worried?!"

"Why should I be? It wont happen this cycle so why worry about it now, we can worry about it when the times comes for it to happen. So for now…" He tackled Dream Ichigo to the ground pinning him. "let's have some fun." He grinned.

'_THE HELL!? Please tell me that we, that they aren't!' _Ichigo thought freaking out.

Dream Ichigo rolled his eyes before he managed to roll them over straddling the cat's stomach pinning his arms above his head and leaned down so he could whisper in one of the soft cat ears. "We've never had fun in such a way and I don't intend to start now." _'Thank goosness…'_

"It's fun for me. You're so easy to rile up and get flustered…though lately it's been getting harder but that makes it more fun I have to learn new tricks." Silane chuckled in reply. _'Asshole you're no better then Yuroichi!'_

"You are an insufferablely annoying pain in my ass."

"I'd love to be a pain in your ass." The cat cackled. _'AHHHH! So gross!'_

"And a perverted jackass who thinks he's all that. But I wouldn't want you any other way." Silane chuckled but it was cut short by a gasp and he pushed Dream Ichigo away for blowing in his sensitive cat ear.

"And you say I'm insufferable?" Silane growled rubbing his ear as Dream Ichigo just laughed.

"You deserved it for licking me." Ichigo felt his body smile and that smile was soon returned by the man in front of him as he crawled over to hug Dream Ichigo.

"Never stop smiling my soon-to-be-King, no matter what happens in the future between us. I'll find you just like I always have, just promise that this time you'll look for me too." Silane requested as he rubbed his nose in Dream Ichigo's hair.

"I promise…no matter what anyone says or does… I'll find my way to you in the next cycle. After all I can't very well be a real king if I don't have my trusty captain by my side can I?" They smiled at each other before hugging one last time before the scene froze and faded.

'_Well that was interesting.'_

()()()()

**Well that was interesting, well I thought so at least, I'd love to know what lovelies thought. As for party games I drew a complete blank on any interesting ones.**

**Did you enjoy my little tease there at the end? (Poor Ichigo had a panic attack.)**

**What did you think of the first day of the party?**

**What do you think will happen in the morning when Ichigo wakes up?**

**Will you actually answer any of my questions or will you remain silent and let me brood in uncertainty?**

**Till next time my lovely readers!**


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